When Rhonda Lynn Way was in her 50s and on the dating scene for the first time since she was 21, she had no idea where to start. Her marriage of 33 years had recently ended, and she didn’t know any single men her age in Longview, Texas, where she lives. She tried to use dating apps, but the experience felt bizarre and daunting. “You’re thrust out into this cyberworld after the refuge of being in a marriage that—even if it wasn’t wonderful—was the norm. And it’s so difficult,” she told me.

Way is now 63 and still single. She’s in good company: More than one-third of Baby Boomers aren’t currently married. Throughout their adult life, their generation has had higher rates of separation and divorce, and lower rates of marriage in the first place, than the generations that preceded them. And as people are living longer, the divorce rate for those 50 or older is rising. But that longer lifespan also means that older adults, more than ever before, have years ahead of them to spark new relationships. “Some people [in previous cohorts] might not have thought about repartnering,” notes Linda Waite, a sociologist at the University of Chicago. “But they weren’t going to live to 95.”

Getting back out there can be difficult, though. Wendy McNeil, a 64-year-old divorcée who works in fundraising, told me that she misses the old kind of dating, when she’d happen upon cute strangers in public places or get paired up by friends and colleagues. “I went on so many blind dates,” she said, reminiscing about her 20s and 30s. “So many wonderful dates.” She met her former husband when she went to brunch by herself and saw him reading a newspaper; she asked whether she could share it. Now her friends don’t seem to have anyone to recommend for her, and she senses that it’s no longer acceptable to approach strangers.

Best Dating Sites for Over 60. The online dating scene is full of opportunities, but not every online dating site is a guaranteed winner. Older singles have to do their research to discover which dating sites and apps actually work. If you’re not careful, you could end up wasting time and money on a second-rate dating site, and that could. FAQs About Senior Dating Sites. Here we will discuss common questions related to online dating or the best senior dating sites for senior singles: Q. I’ve heard a lot about online dating site scams. Dating online occurs with the help of special senior dating sites. The main task is to register, create a profile, find the most suitable variants (matches) and communicate with them. Senior, in turn, stands for the special type of users, the “major league”. No doubt, people that use senior dating services are more experienced, more aware.

1. Best Resources for Over 60 Dating. Let’s look at specific examples of reliable and easy-to-use online platforms. This is one of the best dating sites for men over 60. Here is a simple and quick registration, a large selection of users of the right age, and clear navigation. SSL is used to protect data and verify accounts.
2. SinglesOver60 is a free UK-based senior dating site that says it’s making over-60 dating “a whole lot easier.” But you don’t just have to be British, Welsh, Scottish, or Irish to join. SinglesOver60 is also available in Australia, Canada, Norway, the US, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sweden.

The only way she can seem to find a date is through an app, but even then, McNeil told me, dating online later in life, and as a black woman, has been terrible. “There aren’t that many black men in my age group that are available,” she explained. “And men who aren’t people of color are not that attracted to black women.” She recently stopped using one dating site for this reason. “They were sending me all white men,” she said.

Bill Gross, a program manager at SAGE—an organization for older LGBTQ adults—told me that the spaces that used to serve the gay community as meeting places for potential partners, such as gay bars, now don’t always feel welcoming to older adults. In fact, many gay bars have become something else entirely—more of a general social space, as younger gay people have turned to Grindr and other apps for hookups and dates.

Dating apps can be overwhelming for some older adults—or just exhausting. Al Rosen, a 67-year-old computer engineer living in Long Island, described sending out so many dating-app messages that he had to start keeping notecards with details about each person (likes concerts, enjoys going to wineries) so that he didn’t mix them up on phone calls. He and others I talked with were tired of the whole process—of putting themselves out there again and again, just to find that most people are not a match. (For what it’s worth, according to survey data, people of all ages seem to agree that online dating leaves a lot to be desired.)

But apps, for all their frustrations, can also be hugely helpful: They provide a way for seniors to meet fellow singles even when their peers are all coupled up. “Social circles used to be constrained to your partner’s circles, your work, your family, and maybe neighbors,” Sue Malta, a sociologist at the University of Melbourne who studies aging, told me. “And once you became widowed or divorced, your circles shrank. If someone in your circle was also widowed, you wouldn’t know whether they were interested in dating unless you asked.” Dating apps make it clear whether someone’s interested or not.

Even with that assistance, though, many older Baby Boomers aren’t going on many dates. A 2017 study led by Michael Rosenfeld, a social demographer at Stanford University, found that the percentage of single, straight women who met at least one new person for dating or sex in the previous 12 months was about 50 percent for women at age 20, 20 percent at age 40, and only 5 percent at age 65. (The date-finding rates were more consistent over time for the men surveyed.)

Indeed, the people I spoke with noted that finding someone with whom you’re compatible can be more difficult at their age. Over the years, they told me, they’ve become more “picky,” less willing—or less able—to bend themselves to fit with someone else, as if they’ve already hardened into their permanent selves. Their schedules, habits, and likes and dislikes have all been set for so long. “If you meet in your 20s, you mold yourselves and form together,” said Amy Alexander, a 54-year-old college-admissions coach. “At this age, there’s so much life stuff that’s happened, good and bad. It’s hard to meld with someone.”

Finding a good match can be particularly hard for straight older women, who outnumber their male counterparts. Women tend to live (and stay healthier) longer, and they also tend to wind up with older men; the older they get, the smaller and older their pool of potential partners grows. “About half of men will go on to repartner,” Susan Brown, a sociologist at Bowling Green State University, told me. “For women, it’s smaller—a quarter at best.” (And divorced men and women ages 50 or older, Brown said, are more likely than widows to form new relationships, while those who never married are the least likely to settle down with someone later on.)

One possible explanation for this gender disparity is that men rely more on their partners—not just when it comes to cooking and housework, but also for emotional and social support. Women are more likely to have their own friends to lean on, and they may not be eager to take care of another man. “For many women, it’s the first time in their life they’ve had independence—they might own a home or have a pension, or something they live off every week,” Malta told me. “They don’t want to share that.”

Still, healthy men are in high demand in assisted-living homes, Brown told me. And many of the older women I spoke with said that they were desperate to find someone active, screening dating profiles for mentions of physical activity and asking sly questions about family health conditions.

Health becomes a pressing dating concern once people enter their final stage of life. One 85-year-old woman I spoke with, who asked not to be identified in order to protect her privacy, has been dating an 89-year-old man for more than 10 years. His health is significantly worse than hers, and although she loves her partner and says she’ll stay with him, the relationship is getting harder. They don’t live together—a rule that’s been important for her, as someone who values her independence, loves to travel, and doesn’t want to slow a pace she knows he can’t keep up with. When she visits him in his retirement home a few times a week, she can sense that his health is declining. “We had wonderful conversations early on, but fewer now because he’s less engaged,” she told me. “It makes me sad to watch it happen.”

For reasons like this and others, a growing number of older people are “living apart together,” meaning they’re in a relationship but don’t share a home. It’s a setup that would have been less accepted in the past but represents today’s less rigid norms for older age. Without kids to take care of or jobs to juggle, older adults are forming the kinds of relationships that work for them.

Those relationships, whether casual or serious, typically involve sex. Someresearchers have found evidence of a loss of libido in older age, especially among women, but other researchers I interviewed disputed that. Meredith Kazer, a professor of nursing at Fairfield University who’s studied sexuality among older people, told me that only if and when cognitive impairment makes true consent impossible should someone stop having sex. In fact, the annual “Singles in America” survey, commissioned by the dating site Match.com, has shown that people report having the best sex of their lives in their 60s—they’ve had decades to figure out what they like, and as Kazer pointed out, they often have more time on their hands.

Of course, there are physical challenges: Starting around age 50, erections are more difficult to sustain (and less hard), and take longer to regain after orgasm. Natural vaginal lubrication dries up, the pelvic floor becomes prone to spasms, and the cervix thins out and becomes irritable. Sex can be painful, or just embarrassing or frustrating. And many of the medical conditions that are common in older adults, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease—or the medications used to treat them—get in the way as well, impacting libido, erectile function, or response to sexual stimulation.

But there are plenty of ways to get around those limitations, from Viagra to hormone-replacement therapies to lubricants. And more than that, an assumption that older people will be incapable of sex because of erectile dysfunction or vaginal dryness presumes a narrow definition of sex, limited to penetrative intercourse. “It becomes more about exploring each other’s bodies in other ways that they find more intimate,” Malta told me.

Karen, a 69-year-old in New York City who asked to be identified by only her first name to protect her privacy, told me that sex is great at her age. She finds that men are more aware of women’s desires; if they can’t sustain erections, they’re more thoughtful and creative, and they compensate—often with oral sex. “They’re very willing to do whatever it takes,” she said. Suki Hanfling, a sex therapist and a co-author of Sexuality in Midlife and Beyond, told me that she knows lots of elderly people having great sex; she mentioned one who had her first orgasm at the age of 83.

This is a sharp contrast to what many women now in old age experienced earlier in life. “For a lot of older women, it was sex in bed with the lights off, their nightshirt pulled up, and it was about men’s pleasure,” Malta told me. Moreover, she said, older adults are freer now to explore the fluidity of attraction and gender. Some who have identified as heterosexual their whole life are trying out same-sex relationships that they previously thought of as off-limits.

Older adults who are forming new relationships, and finding new possibilities within them, don’t have all the time in the world. That reality can cast a shadow, tingeing even the best moments with an edge of sadness, but it can also clarify the beauty in each other and the world. I heard this firsthand from many older daters; they were conscious of their limited time, sometimes painfully so, but those who had found new partners felt particularly grateful that they were able to do so later in life.

And those I spoke with who were single were often happily so. Al Rosen, the sexagenarian with the dating-app flash cards, told me he was—for the first time ever—really enjoying spending time alone. Laura Iacometta, a 68-year-old director of a theater company in New York City, told me that she’s disappointed by the scarcity of hookups in her older lesbian community, but that she’s “more self-actualized than I’ve ever been in my entire life.”

So although lots of unmarried older people aren't going on many dates, they aren't all dissatisfied. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at the Kinsey Institute who helps conduct the “Singles in America” study, told me about two questions they asked respondents in the 2012 iteration of the survey: How likely are you to pursue a committed relationship with someone who offers everything you are looking for in a relationship but whom you don’t find sexually attractive? And what about someone with whom you’re not in love? They found that the single people least likely to compromise on attractiveness and feelings were those 60 and older. Fisher’s hypothesis is that older adults are less desperate to find partners than they may have been at a younger age—because they wanted someone to raise children with, or because they felt a societal pressure to partner up.

Rhonda Lynn Way, the woman from Texas, has decided to pull back from dating for a while. “I don’t think there’s one love of your life,” she told me. “I think there’s love.” And she’s sharing love in all kinds of ways—reaching out to people in her community who seem like they need it, reminding her kids that she adores them, hosting spaghetti dinners for her Unitarian Universalist congregation. I asked her whether she was happy being single. “You come into this world by yourself, but somewhere along the line we get this idea that you’re part of a half,” she said. “You are whole all to yourself.”

Dating doesn’t stop at 50, 60 or 70. Thanks to “senior” dating sites, you can toss yourself totally into the online dating scene — and meet local singles your age with ease.

But how do you start dating safely, considering the online dating sphere isn’t regulated? How do you differentiate the best 50+ dating sites from the fakes? Which sites cater to the seniors, even?

We’ve tackled these, and more, questions in this article. But first, let’s take a look at the best senior dating sites for older adults.

Top Senior Dating Sites, By Type

1. Best overall, largest user base – eHarmony
2. Best dating site for 60+ singles – SilverSingles
3. Best site for Christian dating over 50 – Christian Mingle
4. Best casual dating site for seniors – Senior Friend Finder
5. Best dating site for educated professionals – Elite Singles
6. Best mature dating app for Jewish seniors – JDate
7. Best over 50 dating website in the UK – OurTime
8. Best senior hookup site for flings – Senior Sizzle
9. Best Catholic dating site for senior citizens – Catholic Match
10. Hand selected matchmaking service – It’s Just Lunch
11. Best 100% free dating site – OkCupid

1. eHarmony – Best Dating Site for Seniors Overall

• A large community of senior singles
• A compatibility matching system
• Meet other seniors locally
• A high success rate
• Contact other members freely

eHarmony boasts the largest community of senior singles online. Here, you can also communicate freely with other senior members in your search for a match.

And if you’re looking to meet a partner locally, eHarmony couldn’t be more helpful. They ensure your matches are near your location so you can meet up conveniently, should you choose to.

The matching process is compatible enough. Because it’s based on members’ personalities and preferences, you’re likely to bump into a compatible partner, which is a plus.

As if it’s not enough, the site features a ton of success stories: most of their senior members have found compatible matches and exchanged marriage vows, even.

2. SilverSingles – Exclusive dating site for those 50+

• Safe and easy to use
• Personality check during sign up
• Free membership is available
• Dedicated to senior singles
• Daily matches are available

If you’re seeking a place specifically set aside for seniors, SilverSingles could fit the bill. They let you access up to seven matches a day so you can do your thing.

Like with eHarmony, you can join this easy-to-navigate platform for free. You’ll have to undertake a personality survey before joining to ensure you’re matched to compatible partners only.

SilverSingle couldn’t be safer thanks to their SSL Encryption system. They also have a fraud detection system to help weed out fake profiles.

And thanks to their mobile app, you can search for potential matches on the go — you don’t have to be carrying your PC everywhere.

3. Christian Mingle – Best Site for Christian Dating Site for Seniors

• Strict verification system
• A balanced gender proportion for seniors
• Daily matches are available
• Free membership
• Users seek long-term dating

Christian singles in the house, raise your hands! Christian Mingle could help connect you to a potential life partner. The platform boasts a balanced gender ratio so there’s someone for everyone.

Most senior folks here are into serious connections, too, just in line with your Christian faith.

Christian Mingle lets you sign up for free, and they offer you daily matches. Their stern verification system ensures you don’t cross paths with bots, either.

And if you’re always on the go, don’t be afraid to sign up, too. Christian Mingle’s dating app is available on both Android and iOS devices. Download it or free and get the ball rolling.

4. Senior Friend Finder – Best Casual Dating Site for Seniors

• Members seek different kinds of relationships
• Easy-to-use interface
• Fraud detection algorithms
• Free membership with more features
• Various contact modes

It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a serious relationship or a short-term thing, this platform might be a good fit. They cater to seniors who’re into different kinds of relationships. And their fraud detection algorithms ensure that bots don’t find a seat on the site.

Unlike with other senior dating spots, you have access to most of the core features for free at this easy-to-navigate place. Whether you want to chat with potential matches, view their photos, and more, you don’t have to spend a penny.

Plus, the fact that Senior Friend Finder offers various contact modes, including visuals, is a bonus. You only have to pick whichever one you prefer.

5. JDate – Best Dating App for Jewish Seniors

• Access singles’ events
• Free membership
• A near-equal gender distribution
• User-friendly interface
• Users seek long-term connections

One of the best spots with a dating app, JDate is the place for Jewish seniors looking for a serious relationship. And no, you don’t have to be Jewish to join. Simply head to the site and sign up.

Several users are into serious commitments, and the almost-proportional gender balance increases your chances of finding a match.

JDate organizes singles events, both online and online, which makes it easier to get acquainted with potential partners. It’s free to join the platform — and you can even browse potential matches’ profiles.

The user interface couldn’t be friendlier, considering your age!

6. Elite Singles – Best Dating Site for Professionals Over 40

• Personality assessment for new members
• Professional-level matchmaking
• Free membership is available
• Members are active
• Verified, detailed profiles

Picky seniors with a college education (who’re seeking to date seniors), come on and grab a seat at Elite Singles. The platform’s professional-level matchmaking system is a plus: matches are based on a personality test, boosting compatibility.

The members here are active, too. Consequently, you’re likely to be contacted by potential matches when you’re least expecting it.

Each one of the profiles is not only verified but also detailed so you can benchmark possible partners before contacting them. And like with most platforms on this list, membership at Elite Singles is free, unless you opt to upgrade it.

7. OurTime – Best Senior Dating Site in the UK

• Laid-back website ambiance
• Face-to-face communication
• Dedicated to seniors over 50
• A large user base
• View other members’ photos for free

Singles over 50, where are you? OurTime might be the place for you. The platform is dedicated to seniors your age and boasts a large user base — increasing your chances to find a match.

OurTime’s laid-back site ambiance is a plus, too, considering your age (you’re a senior citizen, right?).

And how about contacting possible dates face to face? OurTime boasts a video-chat feature, making for memorable communication. You can also view other user’s photos for free.

For those seniors who don’t mind browsing the website on the go, you’re covered with a mobile app, which is available for both Android and iOS devices.

8. It’s Just Lunch – Best Site for Senior Matchmaking Service

• Real-life matchmaking
• Ideal for busy senior professionals
• Complimentary phone interview
• Dates are set at convenient hours
• Members seek serious relationships

If you’re a busy single senior, you might want to look no further than It’s Just Lunch. They offer personalized matchmaking, from certified matchmakers, based on personality compatibility.

This is the only platform on our list that features a phone interview during registration. Meaning, you’re less likely to meet fakes here.

The vast majority of seniors at It’s Just Lunch seek meaningful relationships. Which is a plus considering older folks are looking to settle down. And dates are set over lunchtime mostly, just so they don’t compromise your working hours.

9. Senior Match

• Caters to folks aged 45+
• Good gender distribution
• The interface is simple to use
• Optimized for mobile browsing
• Contact other members for free

And now look at this one! A place that’s been dedicated to mature singles for the last 18 years. Yet, Senior Match isn’t confined to dating. They let you seek travel buddies aged 45+ — and other types of companionship.

To prove they truly cater to the senior dating population, Senior Match won’t approve any new accounts for people younger than 45 years.

Senior Match is one of the places with a balanced gender ratio, making it likely to find a date. And while they currently don’t have a dating app, their site is optimized for mobile browsing, with all the desktop features included.

The platform has a simple-to-use port. Sign up for and contact potential matches for free.

10. Catholic Match – Best Catholic Dating Site for Senior Citizens

• An equal gender distribution
• The senior members are active
• Complimentary membership months
• Profiles are comprehensive
• Free membership

To our Catholic seniors looking to give online dating a shot, this platform might not disappoint. The older members are active, and their equal gender ratio means there’s someone for you. Also, considering the senior folks here are into serious dating, it goes well with your Catholic faith.

Each one of the user profiles couldn’t be more comprehensive. Skim through these to get a thing or two about potential matches before contacting them.

Catholic Match lets you sign up for free, and you can browse possible partners’ profiles without spending a dime. Note, you’ll need to answer some faith-based questions on your profile.

Here’s the best part about this Jewish platform: they give you complimentary months should you fail to bump into a potential match during your first six months.

11. Match

• A large user base
• High member activity
• Six free membership months
• Detailed profiles
• Free membership

A whopping 20 years in the matchmaking game is no joke! This probably explains why Match guarantees you’re going to meet someone on the platform. If, for any reason, you don’t, Match gives you six membership months for free.

This platform has high member activity, and the user base couldn’t be larger, boosting your chances of finding a match. The profiles are detailed enough, too, so you can get a quick picture of possible partners before going all in.

At Match, senior folks are into serious dating. Membership is free, and you can filter profiles based on handy parameters, including location and age range.

You’ll also find seniors meeting people they’ve knocked into in real life thanks to the platform’s Missed Opportunity feature.

12. OkCupid – Best Free Senior Dating Site

• Personality compatibility matching system
• A large user base
• Members are active
• Comprehensive profiles
• Contact potential matches for free

It doesn’t matter if you’re a senior citizen, but you can dip your toes into a variety of relationships at OkCupid. The platform boasts a personality compatibility matching approach, helping weed out incompatible matches.

The large user base, which is also active, boosts your chances of running into possible dates. Member profiles are detailed, just so you know what you’re getting into before making the first move.

And, unlike most dating sites on our list, OkCupid lets you contact other members for free. Complimentary membership is available as well.

Senior Dating Sites: Your Questions Answered

Can Only Seniors Apply to Senior Dating Sites?

Well, it depends on which corner of the web you’re accessing. Some online dating sites allow only seniors to join. They don’t allow younger people at all. Senior Match is a good example.

Some platforms, meanwhile, are dedicated to both the senior and younger people. Sugar daddy dating sites (where you’ll find seniors dating younger people) are a good example.

And other websites have no age restrictions at all. Here, the seniors meet people aged 18+ — no specific age range is specified.

Why Should I Use a Senior Dating Site?

Firstly, these are the best dating sites for you: they are dedicated to senior dating, and you’re likely going to bump into folks with similar interests and experiences.

It couldn’t be easier finding potential dates in your age group as well, unlike on other sites, where you need to browse a good chunk of profiles for the same.

We’ve also found out that most dating sites for seniors offer a rigorous personality survey during sign up. Which helps separate the humans from the robots.

When it comes to the user interface, a considerable number of senior platforms have a laid-back port, making for hassle-free navigation.

What Are Some Pro Tips for Using Senior Dating Sites?

Here are a few of them:

Hop onto a Reliable Site

Considering there are countless fakes out there, you want to use a trusted online dating site only. The platforms we’ve recommended above might come in handy.

Have Practical Anticipations

Of course, you’re a senior citizen, and so might be your potential partner. So, expect it t reflect in their photos — grey hair, wrinkles, and all. That way, you’re unlikely to shun a possible life partner due to physical looks.

Know When to Bring Up Your Baggage

Given your age, chances are you are divorced or have lost your spouse. Or, maybe, you’ve been into a bunch of relationships already. It’s not uncommon to have grown-up children, too.

Now, don’t bring up all this baggage during your first contact with a potential match. It could scare them away.

Are Dating Sites for Seniors Safe?

Nearly all leading senior dating sites are safe. But considering the online dating world isn’t regulated, it can provide ground for senior people meeting fakes here and there.

Here’s how to ensure you’re staying safe, even on one of the best dating sites.

• Do your research before joining a platform
• Sign up on websites that are an authority in the industry
• Never dish your financial info to a stranger, even if you’re matches
• When it comes to initial physical meetups, do it in a public spot
• Confirm that potential websites process payments safely

Online Dating Sites For Seniors Over 60

The Takeaway on Senior Dating Sites

We hope that these top online dating sites make for a great opportunity to meet senior people and find love, even at your age!

Our Winner is eHarmony. Despite the site’s membership price, their satisfaction guarantee couldn’t be more reliable. Our first and second runner-ups are SilverSingles and SeniorFriendFinder, in that order. Both dating sites are dedicated to serving senior singles.

Online Dating Sites For Over 60

Now, don’t let the age factor be a hindrance, but go take the online dating world by storm!