Average Millennial date costs $252, BMO finds
Inflation concerns show that social media users are also reflected in “history inflation” discussions on the internet react a surprising statistic: Millennials spend an average of $252 on a date.
The figure CNBC reported in April, BMO Finance Group’s 2026 BMO Real Financial Progress Index. BMO found that the average “all-in” spend on an appointment in America — including the cost of the appointment itself, as well as pre-appointment care and gas money — rose 12.5% from last year to $189. As “history inflation” report This was well above the 2.7 percent inflation increase in the same period.
According to BMO’s year-over-year generation data, millennials reported the highest average cost per date and the largest year-over-year increase:
- Generation Z: increased from $194 to $205
- Millennials: increased from $191 to $252
- Generation X: increased from $172 to $173
- Baby boomers: Dropped from $127 to $126
The bank surveyed 2,501 adults from late December through January.
Inflation has worsened since then. The consumer price index rose 3.8% year-over-year in April 2026, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Experts say high costs are creating a ripple effect on dating habits.
“We’re seeing rising costs of living, and that’s reducing the frequency or perception of how we date and how we date,” clinical psychologist Sabrina Romanoff told CNBC. “We’re seeing people dining out less and there’s less tolerance for high-risk gatherings.”
BMO said half of Americans who are dating or open to dating are going on fewer dates or choosing cheaper activities due to inflation or the high cost of living. More than four in 10, or 44%, said they had changed or adjusted their date plans for financial reasons.
The number of dates is also decreasing. The average American who went on a date reported going out about 12 times last year, up from around 14 in 2025, BMO found.
Who pays when dates are so expensive?
Janina Steinmetz | Digitalvision | Getty Images
Higher prices also complicate one of dating’s oldest questions: Who pays?
BMO found a significant gender gap in expectations early in a relationship. Nearly three in four men, or 71 percent, said they expect to pay for everything on a date initially. While 52 percent of women said they expected to split the cost relatively equally, 38 percent said they expected the other party to pay for everything.
Jess Carbino, a sociologist who works for Tinder and Bumble, told CNBC that economic uncertainty can push people toward more traditional expectations.
“When we see times of uncertainty, especially economic uncertainty, we see people relying on more established traditional gender roles to buffer and cope with the uncertainty that exists at a particular time and moment,” Carbino said. he said.
Social media can make those expectations even more extreme by feeding men and women different narratives about dating and money, Romanoff said.
“Social media creates gendered echo chambers where men and women are fed completely different narratives about dating and money,” Romanoff said. “Algorithms unfortunately reward anger today. The most polarizing extreme financial dating approaches are rising to the top, and that’s what’s amplified right now.”
On one hand, some women face advice to only accept expensive first dates as proof of value or interest, Romanoff said. On the other hand, some men were told not to spend money on dates, he said.
“Echo chambers denigrate the opposite sex and frame dating as this struggle for financial power rather than this relational process where we both meet in the middle and get to know each other,” Romanoff said.
“We are literally watching love shrink to fit people’s budgets,” he added.
