The state of Florida is a unique place for online dating—heck, it’s a unique state altogether. When you can drive 10 minutes and be at the beach, drive another 10 minutes and be in the middle of the country, and drive 10 minutes more and be at Disney World—it counts as unique.
But does unique also mean “super easy place to date and meet singles?” Unfortunately, not. Dating in Florida is a challenge no matter where you call home—Tallahassee, Tampa, Sarasota, Miami, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Jacksonville, or anywhere else in the Sunshine State.
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We come with some good news, though. Whether you’re in a small beach town, a country getaway, under the lights of the big city, or living that Latino lifestyle, the best Florida dating apps can help you meet that special someone.
In this guide, we’re going to walk you through all your dating app options, take a look at what the FL single scene looks like, and give you the resources you need to find what you’re looking for.
So, grab your beach chair, and let’s get you plugged into the Florida singles scene right now with some of the best Florida dating apps currently available.
The Best Dating Apps in Florida
| Rank | Site | Free Trial Link | |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | eHarmony | Free Trial | |
| #2 | SilverSingles | Free Trial | |
| #3 | Zoosk | Free Trial | |
| #4 | Higher Bond | Free Trial | |
| #5 | Christian Mingle | Free Trial | |
| #6 | Elite Singles | Free Trial |
Reasons Why eHarmony is the #1 Florida Dating App
You can argue that Florida isn’t the south (culturally speaking) and we would argue right back with you. Regardless, though, one thing is true—a lot of Florida singles are rooted in the idea of real relationships and building great connections (southern traits). What this means is that for any dating app to be viable in Florida, it needs to cater to singles who are looking for love.
Meet eHarmony. A fan-favorite in Florida, this dating app has helped several million singles fine love in its 20+ years in the industry. It also comes with a really nice mobile app, so if you want to chill at the beach or on the lake while you look for love, it’s there to help. And what’s really great is that eHarmony does all the work for you with picking out matches.
It’s ideal for singles who want a little help from experts or may be tight on time.
SilverSingles a Great Option for Florida Seniors
It’s no secret that Florida is one of the most sought after retirement spots in the world. Even if you don’t live somewhere like The Villages or Sarasota (places known for seniors), almost 1/3 of the state is over the age of 55! What this means is that a top Florida dating app would be one that takes senior singles into account.
And when it comes to that, there is none better than SilverSingles. While eHarmony is still a good option for seniors, SilverSingles is 100% exclusive for singles over the age of 55. With it’s easy to use website (or mobile friendly app), you’ll be meeting likeminded senior singles in Florida in no time.
Zoosk Best for Casual Dating in Florida
Hey now, just because we said a lot of Florida singles are looking for serious relationships does not mean that everyone is. Especially in younger communities or areas around college towns, you may be looking for something a little slower or more casual.
Meet Zoosk! With 30 million+ users, Zoosk aims to be everything for everyone. What we mean by that is that they have options for more serious dating as well as options for casual and short-term dating (no idea what the difference between the two is, but it’s an option).
Couple the flexibility and number of users with a sleek app designed for mobile and you have one of the best Florida dating apps. And what’s neat is that you can search for singles in about 5 minutes after signing up (for free), so you can see if it’s worth your time and money pretty dang quickly.
Additional Resources for Florida Singles
- 3 Reasons These Are the Best Florida Dating Apps
- What Does the Single Scene in Florida Look Like?
- What Cities in Florida are the Most Interested in Online Dating?
- Guides for Singles in Specific Florida Cities
- Florida Dating Apps FAQ
3 Reasons These Are the Best Florida Dating Apps
Transparency is key when it comes to rankings and recommendations—at least that’s how we see it. What we wanted to quickly do is share a few of the reasons we really think these are the best Florida dating app options available to singles in the Sunshine State.
1. A Focus on Locals and Not on Tourists
Everyone knows that Florida is one of the hottest vacation destinations on the planet. Be it the beaches, Disney World, the Space Center, gator watching in the Everglades, spring break—people love to come to the state. The problem with this when it comes to dating for locals is that if an app isn’t set up correctly, it’s going to be overrun with tourists who are just in town for the week. If you’re looking to meet someone for something real, you’re going to have to be weeding through a lot of bad options.
Great apps for Florida locals are ones that make it a bit harder to update your location on the fly and don’t operate off of proximity to your current location. There are plenty of apps like Tinder and Bumble that can handle that. Our selections are much more heavily geared towards real relationships for locals.
2. Technology to Support Your Search for Florida Singles
Each of the sites we’ve recommended is chalked full of helpful features to aid in your search. First, each site has in-depth searching capabilities where you can put in the parameters of what you’re looking for. Looking for a man in Florida in his 30s within 25 miles of where you live who likes dogs? You can search for that. Looking for a woman in here late 30’s or early 40s with blonde hair who loves the beach? You can search for that too. No matter what you’re looking for in a Florida single, you can find it easier through online dating apps.
These sites also have quality mobile apps that help you to date on the go. Florida is a state where staying inside isn’t that fun (unless the humidity is kicking). Why force yourself to have to stay inside to find that special someone? With the mobile apps that come with these Florida dating sites, you’ll be able to search for singles, send flirts, respond to messages, and make that connection from anywhere you are with your phone.
3. Singles From the Populous and Rural Areas
You’ll notice that a lot of similar guides to this one focus on either Miami, Tampa, or Orlando. Sure, there are a lot of people in those areas, but what if you live in a smaller area like Ocala or Panama City or even something like Mount Dora? For an app option to pass our viability test, there need to be singles across the state.
Yes, we understand that some of the smaller cities are going to have fewer options, but that’s also why we choose apps where you can set your distance filters to expand out a little bit. Just because the perfect man or woman lives in Tampa and you live in Clermont or Orlando doesn’t mean that you can’t make it work. Sure, I-4 is one of the worst roads on the planet (we feel your pain commuters), but we think you’d probably be willing to brave it to get to know the one.
What Does the Single Scene in Florida Look Like?
Step one—find the best Florida dating app for you. Check. Step two—figure out what the heck you’re about to get yourself into. That’s what we want to do now. Let’s look at a few of the characteristics of the Florida dating scene that are important for you to be aware of before you brave the swamps of dating.
Demographic Groups With the Most Activity
While you can meet someone anywhere in the state, there are four groups where we’re seeing the most interest.
- College students looking for casual dating or serious relationships (UF, FSU, UCF, USF, FIU, FAU, UM, FGCU—just to name a few)
- Young professionals looking for serious relationships or marriage (more action in this demographic around the major cities)
- Seniors looking for someone special to spend time with (Areas like the Villages, Sarasota, and many of the other small towns are the most active)
- Young adults looking for casual dating (This is evident in most single communities around the entire state)
Here are a few more things you can expect to see from the Florida dating scene.
- Yes, tourists can be a problem on some dating apps. – We just wanted to mention this one more time. Yes, you are going to see a lot of people using dating apps who just want a tour guide for the weekend or a casual quick thing. If that’s what you want too, great. If not, stick to Florida dating apps that cater to locals and more committed type relationships.
- Sports rivalries do matter to some singles. – If you’ve ever seen one of those “House Divided” license plates with the Florida Gators on one side and the Florida State Seminoles on the other half—you know what we’re talking about. For a lot of people, sports rivalries are just a fun part of dating. However, there are going to be some people who refuse to date you if you’re not on the proverbial same team as they are. Good luck getting a date in Gainesville if you’re from Ohio State 🙂
- People may be willing to drive a bit further. – For some reason, people in the South and in Florida aren’t scared of a 45 minute drive. In other states, if you live more than 15 minutes away from someone, they won’t be interested in dating you. In Florida, though, you can probably expand your search radius up to a few hours as people are more open to braving the Turnpike or 95 or whatever other “amazing” road is in between you two.
- There are A LOT more people from out of state recently. – There have always been a lot of people who move to Florida from out of state, especially in the senior singles communities. However, after the past few years, the influx of people of all ages to Florida has been massive. What does this mean for singles? It means you should expect to meet a lot more people from places like New York, California, etc.
- There are fewer young people. – Don’t let this discourage you if you’re in the 20-29 year old age bracket because we’re still talking about millions of people. But, over the past few years the percentage of the population in that age bracket shifted from 13% to 11.7%. You still have 2.5 million + people to choose from, but it is a bit less than it was a while back.
- Ethnic diversity in the dating scene is decent. – There are some states in the US where it’s like 80-90% one ethnic group. There are some states where there is great representation across 3-4 groups. Florida? It’s right in the middle. The three largest represented groups are White (51%), Hispanic (27%), and Black (15%). One thing to note—this is not homogenous across the state, meaning that there are areas (like in South Florida) where the town is predominantly Hispanic and so on with other groups throughout the state. For example, Miami is 72% Hispanic, 13% White, and 13% Black.
- Some cities in Florida are better for singles. – Don’t worry; we’re not just going to leave this statement here without some backup data. Recently, our team conducted a study on the 100 largest cities in America to see where things shook out. For Florida, five cities made rankings with two cities in the top 20, two more in the top 30, and the lowest city scoring 42nd.
- Tampa – 14th
- St. Pete – 15th
- Orlando – 22nd
- Miami – 24th
- Jacksonville – 42nd
Florida Singles and Dating Site Statistics
Since we’re already playing in the data pool (or data ocean since it’s Florida), here are a few more helpful stats to give you the most clear picture of the dating scene in the state.
Key Takeaways About the FL Stats
- There are 352,088 more women in the state of Florida than there are men
- The largest age block in the state are those 60 and up (28%)
- There are more single women (unmarried) in FL than there are single men
Total Population
- 21,781,128
Population in Florida by Gender
- 50.8% women in Florida
- 49.2% men in Florida
Overall Singles (Unmarried) by Gender
- 52.6% of women in Florida are single
- 48.6% of men in Florida are single
Population in Florida by Age
- 11.7% aged from 20-29 years old
- 12.8% aged from 30-39 years old
- 12.3% aged from 40-49 years old
- 13.2% aged from 50-59 years old
- 28.0% aged 60+ years old
% Households With Internet in FL
- 80.8% of households in Florida have internet access
Source(s): Census.gov
What Cities in Florida are the Most Interested in Online Dating?
Alright, one more bit of data before send you out to try the new Florida dating apps we’ve recommend. And this bit of data is one that may encourage you, depending on where you’re looking for love in the state.
Want to know which cities in the state of Florida are the most interested in online dating? We did! Our team looked at Google Trends and search data over the past 12 months to see which cities in the state had the most search traffic for online dating topics. The winner? Gainesville. The city with the second most online dating search traffic was Miami with about 71% of the traffic seen in Gainesville. Orlando and Tampa came in 3rd and 4th with just barely lower amounts of traffic.
Why Gainesville? It probably has a lot to do with the University of Florida being there. You do see all of the cities coming in the top five also with major colleges in the area.
What’s interesting is that when you look at data over the past 5 years (instead of just the past 12 months), West Palm Beach was in third place, but has since dropped down to seventh.
- Gainesville FL – (100)
- Miami-Ft. Lauderdale FL – (71)
- Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne FL – (69)
- Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota) FL – (68)
- Jacksonville FL – (62)
- Tallahassee FL-Thomasville GA – (60)
- West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce FL – (59)
- Ft. Myers-Naples FL – (50)
- Mobile AL-Pensacola (Ft. Walton Beach) FL – (34)
- Panama City FL
Guides for Singles in Specific Florida Cities
If you’re interested in Florida singles in particular cities (and how to find them), we totally get that! To help, we’ve included a few helpful guides for several of the major areas in the state. You’ll find Florida singles data by city, specific dating apps that might be stronger in each area, as well as tips and resources to help your search for love or fun in these areas.
- Best Dating Sites in Jacksonville
- Best Dating Sites in Miami
- Best Dating Sites in Orlando
- Best Dating Sites in Sarasota
- Best Dating Sites in Tallahassee
- Best Dating Sites in Tampa
Florida Dating Apps FAQ
Is dating in Florida hard?
Dating in Florida does come with its own unique set of challenges. One of the biggest is that the state is so driven by tourism, which means it’s constantly filled with single who are just there for the weekend or may only be short-term seasonal. This adds an extra layer of complexity for singles looking for a real relationship with someone who lives in the state. Other than that, dating in Florida isn’t any harder than it is in other states, but that still doesn’t mean it’s entirely easy.
What’s the best dating app in Florida?
For us, there are three leading options when it comes to the discussion of the best dating apps in Florida—eHarmony, SilverSingles, and Zoosk. eHarmony is ideal for those who want to avoid the tourists and find a real relationship. SilverSingles is great for the nearly 1/3 of the population that is in their older years. Zoosk is best for the younger singles in Florida who are interested in casual or short-term dating, but don’t quite want to jump into the Tinder-type apps.
How do I meet singles in Florida?
Your options for meeting singles in Florida include all of the traditional options like bars, gyms, work, through friends and family, online dating apps, etc. Additionally, though, you have some more unique options like tourist locations, the beach, the lake, a lot of colleges, and tons of outdoor events thanks to the weather.