How Far Single People Are Willing to Travel for Love

Gone are the days when you had to sit, wait, and hope the love of your life would walk into your life. Now, technology can help you connect with the right person, whether they’re sitting across the room or are living somewhere around the world.

To better understand how American singles think about long-distance dating, Tawkify, a match-making website, surveyed 1,000 single adults across the U.S., asking questions about their openness to long-distance relationships and how much effort and travel they’d be willing to put in to make it work.  

“As digital connection makes the world feel smaller, single Americans are expanding their geographical horizons like never before,” Tawkify shared in its findings. “Whether it’s Gen Z’s digital-first openness or the surprising number of singles ready to pack their bags for ‘The One,’ these insights reveal a dating culture that refuses to let mileage stand in the way of a meaningful match.” 

According to the study, 65 percent of singles are, in fact, open to dating someone long-distance, while a whopping 84 percent said they’d even be willing to relocate for the right person. However, this data does come with some generationally specific caveats. 68 percent of millennial and 64 percent of Gen Z survey participants said they are open to long-distance dating, compared to just 54 percent of Gen Xers and older adults. 

Additionally, just over one-third of respondents said they “trust” long-distance relationships just as much as local ones. But here, communication is critical, with 40 percent of survey respondents saying they’d expect to communicate with a long-distance partner multiple times a day. 

As for how far that “long distance” can be, it appears millennials are the most open to international love, with 19 percent stating they’d date someone outside their passport zone, followed by 16 percent of Gen Z and just 11 percent of Gen X. 

“Maintaining a connection across state lines or oceans requires more than just emotional chemistry. Once distance is on the table, expectations around time, effort, and cost quickly come into focus, often acting as the ultimate test of a couple’s commitment,” Tawkify added. “Understanding these practical boundaries is essential for any single American looking to turn a remote spark into a lasting flame.”

Long-distance also requires plenty of compromise, with 69 percent of singles saying they’d be willing to take turns visiting their partner, while 59 percent said they’d be happy to travel to their partner’s city. 51 percent would prefer to host romantic partners in their own city. And it seems as though singles are also very happy to travel, with the majority (41 percent) saying they’d take three to five trips a year to see their love, and 23 percent saying they’d even take 10 trips or more. 

As for the biggest deal breakers, 56 percent said they’d end things because they weren’t perceiving enough “effort from the other person,” and 47 percent said they’d break it off for a “lack of communication.” 

“Ultimately, long-distance dating is a testament to the lengths to which we are willing to go for a genuine connection,” the study stated. “While the miles present logistical hurdles and require a higher level of trust and communication, the high success rate of relocation and the prevalence of positive outcomes suggest that for the right person, the distance is simply a temporary detail. The data is clear: true compatibility knows no borders.”