We find that both men and women pursue partners who are on average about 25% more desirable than themselves by our measures and that they use different messaging strategies with partners of different desirability. We show that competition for mates creates a pronounced hierarchy of desirability that correlates strongly with user demographics and is remarkably consistent across cities. cities using data from a popular, free online dating service. We present an empirical analysis of heterosexual dating markets in four large U.S.
In recent years, however, the advent and vigorous growth of the online dating industry has provided a rich new source of information on mate pursuit. Romantic courtship is often described as taking place in a dating market where men and women compete for mates, but the detailed structure and dynamics of dating markets have historically been difficult to quantify for lack of suitable data.
