--- description: Whereas women tend to prefer men of the same age or slightly older title: Men of All Ages Want Women in Their Mid-20s, Study Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc93d2e1af62c440/6986a59e169ab0307227b6aa/woan-date-biking.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Living](/tag/time-section-living/) ## Living Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Men of All Ages Want Women in Their Mid-20s, Study Says  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 26, 2014 4:55 PM CUT  Couple holding hands while riding bicycles Couple holding hands while riding bicyclesCavan Images—Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 26, 2014 4:55 PM CUT Straight men of all ages [tend](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2014-09/aof-tia092514.php "undefined") to have their romantic sights set on women in their mid-twenties, while women prefer men who are about the same age as they are, according to a new study. The survey out Friday, financed by the government-backed research funding group Academy of Finland, gathered data on 12,000 Finns and found that women, on average, are looking for partners who are about their age or slightly older. But men across the age spectrum have a sexual preference for women in their mid-20s. This remains true for men of all ages—men in their early-20s or younger are attracted to women older than themselves and older men are attracted to younger women. The findings are similar to [data](http://time.com/3302251/9-ugly-truths-big-data-ok-cupid-book/ "undefined") culled from the dating website OKCupid, which found that male users of the site of all ages, by far, are looking for women in their early-20s. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3433014/men-women-dating-mid-20s/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3433014/men-women-dating-mid-20s/"},"headline":"Men of All Ages Want Women in Their Mid-20s, Study Says","datePublished":"2014-09-26T16:55:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:03.766Z","description":"Whereas women tend to prefer men of the same age or slightly older","url":"https://time.com/3433014/men-women-dating-mid-20s/","keywords":["Living","women","Dating","Sex","Porn","Men"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc93d2e1af62c440/6986a59e169ab0307227b6aa/woan-date-biking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc93d2e1af62c440/6986a59e169ab0307227b6aa/woan-date-biking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Couple holding hands while riding bicycles","caption":"Couple holding hands while riding bicycles","creditText":"Cavan Images—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3433014/men-women-dating-mid-20s/","name":"Men of All Ages Want Women in Their Mid-20s, Study Says"}}]}] ```