How often should you meet with your date?
Before you have “the talk” with someone about committing to being in a relationship, you should probably know what you’re committing to — it varies a whole lot depending on a range of different factors.
SweetRing, a dating app that’s dedicated to helping users find matches who share the same value and interest, surveyed about 1,000 of its users to get a better idea of what people are looking for in relationships. Let’s look first at what men and women want, especially when it comes to time spent together.
Despite some stereotypes, men do love to spend time with their significant other and like to get to know them pretty well before jumping into anything serious — 62% of male participants say they like to meet up with their new partner two or three times per week before anything gets “serious.”
Once the relationship is established and they’re officially dating, that same majority of guys are down with seeing their significant other about four times a week.
A majority of women — 56% — are also into the four times a week idea. The difference? They want to see their special someone four times a week even before the relationship gets real. This suggests that women either get attached sooner or they like to really make sure someone is the right choice before they commit.
It’s not just gender that helps dictate how often someone wants to spend time with the one they love. In fact, there’s an even bigger difference based on how much someone makes per year. According to the survey from SweetRing, people who make between $54,000 and $73,000 like to spend a whopping 70 hours per week with their boo.
That’s the sweet spot, with time spent with a partner declining on either side of the income table. For users who make between $40,000 and $47,000, the optimum time together is about 57 hours, while those who make more than $120,000 really like their alone time, with just 23 hours per week.
What can we take away from this? The two ends of the income spectrum generally involve more intense work schedules, which may seriously cut down on time together. It’s certainly not a hard and fast rule, but dating people from within the same general income bracket may well make it easier to find the right fit.