USians will abstain from sex or romance rather than stop larping as rich

In my world a date is drinking beer cans after eating some kebab

All the comments hating on people for their date location choices but I mean… before I left the US in February, taking my wife out to sushi and a movie would easily cost $200. And we don’t even drink! If you’re trying to have a fun time and go to a bar afterwards, it’s gonna be $200-$300 easy.

Sure, you could split a Big Mac in a public park, but that’s not what most people think about when they hear “date.”

Costco date night. they get a hotdog and a soda. all the refills and samples they want, my treat, while we walk around and i look at bulk socks and underwear.

Oh, this is more statistics bullshitting, the kind Gould complained about decades ago wrt variation.

14% of Americans say the average date costs them nothing, up from 12% a year ago. At the other end of the spectrum, 14% say a typical date costs $300 or more, up from 11% in 2025.

It's high income people drawing up the mean.

But I'm also skeptical of 1) the implication this is self-reported 2) the broad measurements that include grooming before the date for instance 3) the lack of publicly available methodology 4) the clear ragebait advertising BMO is doing here

i was gonna cry about americans spending substantially more than my entire monthly salary on a single date but then i saw it's from fortune.com lmao. why would anyone even read the titles of this rag?

Volcels are winning in spades lately

I'm really glad that my idea of a date is "play TTRPGs with other autistic trans girls until we know each other well enough that i can come over to her place and watch gay cartoons with her while we cuddle."

My first date with my current partner, we had a round of drinks (I think I had 4 or 5 cause i hadn't quit drinking then), went back to hers, and then afterwards I put on Yellow Parenti before calling an Uber home at 3AM.

Skill issue.

I've never really enjoyed restaurant dining. There's a lot of other activities to do that aren't this one traditional "date" format and it's the restaurant that's the majority of the cost.

You bring that Switch 2. You break out those joycons. You set this up in a park. You bring a case of diet soda. You forgot to initialize the Game Key Card game (Pokemon Pokopia). She scoffs, saying "you don't buy all of your games physically?" and ends the date.

USians are brainwashed into thinking they need a $200 experience to get to know someone. At that rate it’s cheaper to take half a day off to cook something fancy for a date.

Where I live there is luckily enough people who don’t want these expensive experiences so we get creative on what to do on a date.

yeah if you go to a "nice" place but splitting a sando and walking in the park is still pretty cheap

"take off your shoes, we're playing smash bros with only pokeballs"

$6-15 per drink, before $2/drink tip

$30 per person for mid level activity (mini golf, movie, paddle boat, Japanese garden, bowling)

$100 dinner. Sit down places cost more, so you're looking at $15/item minimum and if you're going on a date, it's fun to try a few things, so don't be stingy. Once you've spent $80 on an app, 2 entrees, and a fun third thing, you only have $20 left for tip

That's already $200 before bubble tea dessert and karaoke

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING FOR $200?!

You're not dating because you're cheap and/or can't think of low/no-cost date ideas, I'm not dating because I realized engagement with The Apps was making life worse, we are not the same.

Dating is no longer worth it but it isn't because of costs.

Wtf no way weed is not that expensive

Who would have thought that not dating makes me a winner.

Well, at least I'm not single 'cause dating is expensive, I'm single 'cause I'm incapable of social interaction with others and I'm offputting interpersonally

I'm a cheaper date then I thought

Is this the average date in a big city? I don’t really think that would be the case in a mid-sized city or smaller town

yeah but if you just do a date that sucks and guarantees you wont get laid it wont be that expensive