During the autumn and winter months, informally known as cuffing season, many daters are using a slower pace to evaluate whether a connection has genuine year-round potential, according to a guide to slow dating for professionals.
Popular commentary often treats late October through February as a countdown to find a plus-one for holiday dinners, but rushing into an ill-fitting arrangement creates more stress than staying single, according to the guide.
In Match's 15th annual Singles in America study, conducted with Kinsey Institute researchers in March and April 2026 across roughly 5,000 US adult singles, 72 percent of singles said they were open to dating, while 34 percent prioritised peace and emotional safety over intense initial passion, according to the guide.
A July 2026 report on slow dating describes how daters are consciously limiting how many people they message at once, comparing slow dating to the slow food movement, according to the guide.
Financial awareness also matters: according to WalletHub's August 2026 Money and Relationships Survey, 80 percent of respondents called poor financial literacy a turn-off in a partner, according to the guide. None of these publications measure how often slow dating leads to marriage.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA 3.0.