Heightened Expectations

I recently came across some interesting data on the dating preferences of females regarding male height.

This data was collected from preferences expressed on the online dating site Bumble as to the height of men women were willing to consider meeting.

We have heard the old adage that women prefer a man who is tall, dark and handsome.

The Bumble data suggests that the first attribute is true,

Credit: https://twitter.com/TheRabbitHole84/status/1684629709001490432

Almost 90% of women are willing to consider a guy who is 6'6" tall.

However, only 60% are willing to consider a 6 footer.

Losing one inch to 5'11' cuts the number of women who are interested down to 30%.

Only 15% of women are interested in men who are 5'8'' or 5'9".

The problem is that this is right at the average height level of American men.

In fact, women on Bumble are four times more likely to consider meeting a 7 footer as a guy who is 5'7".

Let's put that in perspective.

There are an estimated to be only 2,800 people on our planet of 7.5 billion people who are 7 feet in height or taller.

There are a couple of billion that measure between 5'6' and 5'10".

Here is the breakdown of heights of males in the United States per the latest CDC data.

Only about 15% of American men in the age 20-59 age group are 6 feet or taller.

It is lower in older ages.

Source:  https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_03/sr03-046-508.pdf

Might there be as small disconnect between expectations and reality here?

Here is the data for females age 20 and over.

The 50th percentile is right around 5'4"' for those in the 20-59 age group.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_03/sr03-046-508.pdf