While the pandemic has put a temporary hold on meet-cutes in bars, it hasn’t stopped people from turning to dating apps for love. After all, nearly half of Americans rely on social media as their primary form of socialization. Although Tinder and Bumble have been dominating the dating-app scene for some time, many people are turning to more focused niche dating apps to help find that special someone.
WhistleOut combed through the data to find the most popular niche dating app in each state in 2020.
Most Popular Niche Dating Apps by State
There is plenty of diversity throughout the country, but The League—geared towards ambitious and driven people—leads the way as the most popular niche dating app in nine states. Faith-based Christian Mingle follows closely behind as the favorite app in eight states.
| State | Dating App | Niche |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | DateMySchool | Alumni matching |
| Alaska | The League | Ambitious personalities |
| Arizona | The League | Ambitious personalities |
| Arkansas | Playoff | Athletes |
| California | Loosid | Sober |
| Colorado | The League | Ambitious personalities |
| Connecticut | JDate | Faith-Based (Jewish) |
| Delaware | The League | Ambitious personalities |
| District of Columbia | Tastebuds | Music |
| Florida | JDate | Faith-based (Jewish) |
| Georgia | The League | Ambitious personalities |
| Hawaii | JDate | Faith-based (Jewish) |
| Idaho | Mutual | Faith-based (LDS) |
| Illinois | Muzmatch | Faith-based (Islam) |
| Indiana | Christian Mingle | Faith-based (Christian) |
| Iowa | Christian Mingle | Faith-based (Christian) |
| Kansas | Christian Mingle | Faith-based (Christian) |
| Kentucky | Christian Mingle | Faith-based (Christian) |
| Louisiana | Luxy | Elite/Millionaire |
| Maine | HeyBaby | Family-oriented |
| Maryland | The League | Ambitious personalities |
| Massachusetts | JDate | Faith-based (Jewish) |
| Michigan | Bristlr | Beard enthusiasts |
| Minnesota | Luxy | Elite/Millionaire |
| Mississippi | Playoff | Athletes |
| Missouri | Luxy | Elite/Millionaire |
| Montana | Dig | Dog-lovers |
| Nebraska | Christian Mingle | Faith-based (Christian) |
| Nevada | Playoff | Athletes |
| New Hampshire | Token | Unique personalities |
| New Jersey | Bristlr | Beard enthusiasts |
| New Mexico | Dine | Foodies |
| New York | Loosid | Sober |
| North Carolina | Christian Mingle | Faith-based (Christian) |
| North Dakota | Lumen | Over 50 |
| Ohio | Dine | Foodies |
| Oklahoma | Luxy | Elite/Millionaire |
| Oregon | JDate | Faith-based (Jewish) |
| Pennsylvania | Bristlr | Beard enthusiasts |
| Rhode Island | The League | Ambitious personalities |
| South Carolina | Christian Mingle | Faith-based (Christian) |
| South Dakota | Dine | Foodies |
| Tennessee | Christian Mingle | Faith-based (Christian) |
| Texas | The League | Ambitious personalities |
| Utah | Mutual | Faith-based (LDS) |
| Vermont | Token | Unique personalities |
| Virginia | Muzmatch | Faith-based (Islam) |
| Washington | The League | Ambitious personalities |
| West Virginia | Token | Unique personalities |
| Wisconsin | Playoff | Athletes |
| Wyoming | Token | Unique personalities |
Faith-based dating apps represent the biggest niche in our findings (most popular in 17 states), which includes the aforementioned Christian Mingle as well as Jewish-focused JDate.
The niche made up of highly educated and career-driven singles looking for their equals, represented mainly by The League, follows behind.
Why Singles Are Turning to Niche Apps
With the ubiquity and mass popularity of one-size-fits-all apps like Tinder, we were interested in learning why niche dating apps continue to appeal to developers and users alike. Here's what the experts had to say...
John Kershaw, founder of Bristlr—the beard enthusiast app which leads the niche dating scenes in Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—compares types of dating apps to the classic bar scene. “Mainstream dating apps are designed to appeal to the most number of people,” Kershaw explained. “Much like chain bars, it’s all fairly uniform, gets the job done, not particularly inspiring. Niche apps are more like the quirky cool bar your friend told you about; there’s fewer people, but everyone who is there is sharing something cool.”
There is perceived value in having the jump start of sharing something special with a match, whether it’s a personality trait, outlook on life, faith, hobby, passion, or experience.
Amanda McGrew, founder of Playoff—which matches current and former collegiate and professional athletes and is a favorite in Arkansas, Mississippi, Nevada, and Wisconsin—wrote in correspondence, “Like [with] other niche apps, I see incredible potential for Playoff because it is giving people an opportunity to connect over an experience or lifestyle that not everyone would be able to appreciate and understand.”
Methodology
We used Google Trends to find search data for dating apps in each location for the past year. We define niche dating apps as those aimed at specific groups of people rather than all daters in general.
To compile our list of niche sites, we gathered names and information from:
Angelo Ilumba
Senior Writer
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