I was at a party when I spied “Dataclysm,” a number-crunching book written by OkCupid Co-Founder Christian Rudder, on an end table. Now, I try to avoid talking about dating industry trends in my real life, but I love this book, so I couldn’t help but ask the party’s host what she thought of its many stats.

“Yeah, it’s interesting,” she said. “I didn’t realize how racist online dating can be. It’s definitely made me think twice about who I respond to online.”

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OK, first of all, online dating isn’t racist — the book’s data reveals certain racial biases in online attractiveness (measured by likes and response rates), but online dating isn’t at fault for user behavior. Racial attitudes influence online dating in fundamental ways, and learning more about those patterns can help individuals be more conscious of their choices and feel more open to dating people of all races. In that spirit, we’ve put together a list of the seven most surprising statistics about race and online dating.

1. White Men and Asian Women Have the Highest Response Rates

Racial biases are usually negative, but sometimes they involve giving preferential treatment to particular types of people. So the good news for white men and Asian women is they are the most sought-after demographics on dating sites.

According to data from Facebook’s app Are You Interested, Asian women see much higher response rates from white (17.6%), Latino (15.8%), and black (26%) men. Women, in general, see three times more interactions than men do, but Asian women were particularly successful at catching a man’s interest.

Quartz’s study showed that most women are highly interested in dating white men.

Additionally, Asian, Latino, and white women all respond more frequently to white men. Maybe these guys are just really smooth talkers. Or, maybe patriarchal values have influenced women’s dating preferences. It’s hard to tell from the raw data exactly what’s going on, but, at least for now, white men seem to have an advantage over black, Latino, and Asian men.

2. Black Men and Women Have the Lowest Response Rates

Quartz’s researchers studied over 2.4 million heterosexual interactions on Are You Interested to determine if online daters had racial biases and what those were. Overall, they found black men and black women receive significantly fewer I’m-interested ratings than other races do.

According to Quartz’s data, gender and race play a significant role in a person’s overall attractiveness.

Although black women responded the most positively toward black men, all other races responded the least to this demographic. And all men, regardless of race, responded the least to black women.

OkCupid came to similar conclusions in its assessment of race and attraction. “Black women reply the most, yet get by far the fewest replies,” the dating experts said. “Essentially every race — including other blacks — singles them out for the cold shoulder.”

3. Most Men Prefer Asian Women, Except Asian Men

So you know how people say there’s an exception to every rule? Well, it’s true in online dating as well. The Quartz Media graphic shows men of all races — except Asian men — prefer Asian women. Asian men respond more to single Latina women, marking themselves as interested 19% of the time.

According to OkCupid’s internal data, Asian men receive fewer messages and matches overall, so maybe they simply shy away from Asian women’s highly competitive online dating profiles.

OkCupid graphed men and women’s match scores by ethnicity and found a bias against Asian men with everyone but Asian women.

Maybe low self-esteem factors into Asian men’s dating decisions. As Zachary Schwartz, a 22-year-old journalist in the UK, said, “Growing up as an Asian guy, you start to think certain ways about yourself… the phraseology used when I was growing up was ‘Asian guys don’t get girls.'”

Whatever the reasoning behind it, Asian men don’t seem to have yellow fever the way other men on dating sites do. Elise Hu of NPR summed it up best when she said, “The results of this study only perpetuate social problems for both sexes involved.”

4. Most Women Prefer White Men, Except Black Women

Black women were another notable exception in Quartz’s study of online attraction. Black women showed the most interest in black men, while women of other races heavily preferred white men. Black women seem most drawn to date prospects of their own race — even though black men have a low interest rating of 16.5% to black women.

5. Only 10% of People Would Date Someone With a Vocal Racial Bias

OkCupid has hundreds upon hundreds of personal questions that it uses to create a personality profile and match percentage for every user. The site has been collecting this data for years, so it can show how user opinions on specific issues have changed over time.

When it comes to racial attitudes, OkCupid users have professed to be less biased and more opposed to racism in general.

From 2008 to 2014, OkCupid users reported less racially prejudiced attitudes.

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As you can see in the graph above, in 2008, about 27% of OkCupid users reported that they would date someone with a vocal racial bias. In 2014, only 10% of users said they’d be willing to entertain a racist date. That’s progress!

6. 35% of People Strongly Prefer to Date Within Their Own Race

That same article also showed a steady decline in the number of people who said they would prefer to date someone of their own race. In 2008, 42% of OkCupid users said they’d prefer to keep to their own when dating. By 2014, that number had dropped to around 35% of users.

The blog post concludes, “Answers to match questions have been getting significantly less biased over time.”

Side note: The person’s race does influence his or her answer to this question because 85% of non-whites said they’d prefer to date outside their race versus just 65% of white people who said the same.

7. Less Than 4% of People Think Interracial Marriage is a Bad Idea

Furthermore, in 2014 the OkCupid team saw a decline in users answering yes to the question “Is interracial marriage a bad idea?” Less than 4% of users in 2014 answered that they think interracial marriage is a bad idea.

Only 1% of OkCupid users have chosen not to post an answer to “Is interracial marriage a bad idea?”

The user base’s response to this question is pretty overwhelmingly in favor of interracial marriage. According to OkCupid’s 2017 question audit, only 1% of users skipped this question. Everyone else felt pretty decided about their opinions on the matter. Clearly, most people think this is a no-brainer. The interracial question is ranked among the 10 least skipped questions on the site.

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Of course, people are free to lie in their answers to these questions, and, given that a majority of users say they’d refuse to date a racist person, it’s probably in everyone’s best interest to answer in favor of interracial marriage and avoid offending or enraging strangers on the internet. Still, it’s encouraging to see so many people categorically accept interracial marriage, which was illegal in the US until 1967.

On Dating Sites, Your Racial Preference Matters

“Dataclysm” is a wonderfully thoughtful and eye-opening assessment of how people date in the modern age. Its studies prompt readers to reassess their online dating behavior and see themselves as part of a larger social framework.

Some of stats about racial biases on dating sites aren’t so encouraging (especially if you’re a black woman or an Asian man), but none of these numbers are set in stone. We have the power to change our dating habits and make online dating a more pleasant and welcoming to people of all races. Single men and women can become part of the solution by stepping outside their comfort zones and sending a message to someone they may have otherwise overlooked on a dating site.

Even if it’s not love at first sight, you should give someone a chance to change your mind and win you over. Who knows? You might just get a great date out of it.

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” He almost certainly wasn’t talking about dating, but, hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.

Update on November 22, 2021 at 2:20PM PT:

Some information in this post has changed. See the latest privacy information for Facebook Dating.

Originally published on September 5, 2019 at 6:45PM PT:

Facebook Dating makes it easier to find love through what you like — helping you start meaningful relationships through things you have in common, like interests, events and groups. It takes the work out of creating a dating profile and gives you a more authentic look at who someone is.

Today, we’re launching Facebook Dating in the US. We’re also giving people the ability to integrate their Instagram posts directly into their Facebook Dating profile and giving people the ability to add Instagram followers to their Secret Crush lists, in addition to Facebook friends. By the end of the year, we’ll make it possible to add Facebook and Instagram Stories to your Dating profile too.

Finding a romantic partner is deeply personal, which is why we built Dating to be safe, inclusive and opt-in. Safety, security and privacy are at the forefront of this product. We worked with experts in these areas to build protections into Facebook Dating from the start, including the ability to report and block anyone; prohibiting people from sending photos, links, payments or videos in messages; and by providing easy access to safety tips. These features and others give you more control and peace of mind. Learn more about privacy and Facebook Dating here.

How It Works

Starting today, you can choose to opt into Facebook Dating and create a Dating profile (separate from your main profile) if you’re 18 years or older and have downloaded the most recent version of Facebook. You will be suggested to others who have also opted in. People are suggested based on your preferences, interests and other things you do on Facebook. Facebook Dating isn’t about swiping or having to wait for someone to like you to get a first chance at reaching out. If you are interested in someone, you can comment directly on their profile or tap on the Like button to let them know. If you aren’t interested, you can pass on them. Facebook Dating allows you to match with friends of friends and/or people not in your friend circle. Facebook Dating won’t match you with friends, unless you choose to use Secret Crush and you both add each other to your list. All of your Dating activity will stay in Facebook Dating. It won’t be shared to the rest of Facebook.

Key Features

• People will soon be able to connect and share with Facebook and Instagram Stories. Today people are asked to make a decision as to whether or not they like someone immediately based on a static profile. To help you show, rather than tell, who you are, we’re bringing Stories to Dating. This format lets you be authentic in a way that a typical dating profile can’t, and it helps you get to know someone before and after you match.

• Secret Crush lets you match with people you already know on Facebook and/or Instagram. By default, Facebook Dating won’t match you with your Facebook Friends, but people told us they were interested in exploring potential romantic relationships within their extended circles, like their Facebook friend list and Instagram followers. Our popular Secret Crush feature gives you the option to do just that. If you choose to use Secret Crush, you can select up to nine of your Facebook friends or Instagram followers who you’re interested in. (To add Instagram followers you must connect your Instagram account to Facebook Dating.) If your crush has opted into Facebook Dating, they’ll get a notification saying that someone has a crush on them. If your crush adds you to their Secret Crush list too, it’s a match! If your crush isn’t on Dating, doesn’t create a Secret Crush list, or doesn’t put you on their list — then no one will know that you’ve entered their name.

• You can now add your Instagram posts to your profile in Facebook Dating. Adding Instagram posts to your profile will make it easier to build a better dating profile, show aspects of your life to others, and find shared connections that spark conversation.

• Opt into Events and Groups to see people with similar interests.You can choose to see other people who are using Facebook Dating that fit your preferences within the groups you are part of and the events you have attended or will be attending. When you choose to see these people, you will also be visible to them.
• Feel safe by sharing details of your date. People using Facebook Dating can share details of their upcoming date and/or live location with someone they trust via Messenger. They will be able to control if they want to choose this feature. If they do, they are in control of whothey share this information with.
• Creating your Dating profile is easier than ever. Based on feedback from people using Dating in other countries, we’ve made it easier to create a Facebook Dating profile. With one tap, we’ll suggest photos and information from your Facebook profile, which you can edit or remove. You can also create your own Dating profile from scratch.

Availability

In addition to the US, Facebook Dating is currently available in 19 other countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Suriname, Thailand, Uruguay, and Vietnam. It will be in Europe by early 2020. Learn more at facebook.com/dating.