Looking for dating sites for educated professionals? No shame in that. After all, nobody goes into online dating blind. We all have ideas of the type of person we’d ideally like to be with. 

In fact, in my coaching and matchmaking services, I have my clients create a “past and future girlfriend spreadsheet.” This is a list of all the qualities about their past partners, as well as what they want in a new one. Anything is game … it’s your list, after all! Personality, habits, and physical characteristics are all on the table.

When you think about the qualities you want your future girlfriend to have, education and professional level might be important. This can have a big impact on a person’s lifestyle and could mean a lot to your compatibility.

That means you’ll have to go find those educated women — but what’s the easiest way to do that? You could just use filters on a large dating site, but there are more efficient ways. 

Certain dating sites could actually be considered “dating sites for educated professionals” based on their demographics, whether or not they market themselves that way.

See my list of dating sites for educated professionals below. Perhaps a couple of these can broaden your horizons and help you find the type of woman you’re looking for.

The Best Dating Sites for Educated Professionals

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Hinge

Hinge is by far the best performer across the board for all of my clients, regardless of age or geographic location. You might think of it as the site that uses your Facebook friends as the source of matches, but it actually changed that in 2018. 

Now, Hinge gives you a newsfeed, which is a mix of photos, comments, and updates from other users who it thinks could be a match for you. So how does it get its matches? It has a pretty impressive algorithm that follows your in-app behavior and posts, in order to figure out who’s your type. And from what I’ve heard, it works.

Based on its demographics, it could be a good choice if you’re looking for dating sites for professionals. According to Hinge’s founder, Hinge attracts more college-educated professionals between the ages of 23-36, compared to Tinder. He told Mashable: “The main differences are: People think of us as a way to meet people rather than a game to play with, and people use us to meet up in real life, not just to chat and flirt.”

Check this one out, especially if you’re looking for younger professionals. Since this app is still growing in popularity, you’ll definitely find a good amount of women on there.

Bumble

Bumble turns dating on its head, since women have to be the ones to message first. Just keep in mind that because women don’t like to message as often, the process might take longer. Based on reviews, a lot of women on that site still browse and don’t send messages (maybe about half). But when you do receive a message from a woman on Bumble, there’s a better chance it’ll convert to a date, since she’s signaling stronger interest than you’d see on a site where men usually message first.

Bumble has the highest percentage of female users, and less of a “hookup culture” than some of the other sites (probably for that reason). Forbes reports that 72 percent of the women on it are under age 35, and a whopping 91 percent of the ones over age 22 have a college education.

So when it comes to dating sites for educated professionals, I’d give Bumble a try if that’s important to you. However, I’ll admit I have heard mixed reviews about this app as of September 2019, and so I’m curious how Bumble will hold up now that Facebook’s dating app has launched.

Facebook Dating

While a lot of people have been using Facebook to secretly stalk their crushes, it’s now become a place to search for legit dates. Facebook Dating lives with in the Facebook app itself, and you have to create a separate profile. (Don’t worry, they don’t share your dating activity with your Facebook friends, or suggest your Facebook friends as matches.)

Since it’s not very old as of this writing (the U.S. launch was in 2019) the actual demographics aren’t well documented yet. But Facebook itself is starting to appeal to a slightly older demographic, with 44% of users age 18-29 saying they’ve deleted the app from their phone in the past year. That might be kind of bad news for Facebook, but that could mean the people on Facebook Dating are more likely to be educated professionals.

One 20-year-old Canadian user agrees, telling CNET: “I have not put a lot of effort into it because to me it does not have a lot of possible bachelors for me. I personally believe there is one type of demographic that Facebook Dating is getting and that is the older, possibly middle-aged people.” Keep in mind, “older” to a 20-year-old could mean 30! And there’s a better chance of finding educated professionals in that age range.

If you’re interested in creating a Facebook Dating profile, check out my article on How to Use Facebook Dating. I also created another article on how to create a killer Facebook Dating Profile for Guys.

EliteSingles

EliteSingles claims that 85 percent of its U.S. members “hold an above average education.” They say their users are age 30-50, and that the site is geared toward helping busy professionals find long-lasting relationships.

Calling themselves a “dating agency,” the site first has you fill out a personality questionnaire, and then sets you up with 5-7 matches per day. And no, you can’t do searches on your own. The matches are based on your personality, but you can start filtering the matches you receive by standard things like common interests, etc.

When it comes to dating sites for educated professionals, EliteSingles definitely fits the bill, considering that’s their whole focus. If you do decide to register for EliteSingles, keep in mind you won’t be able to message women for free.

The League

The League might be one of the most popular dating apps for professionals as it caters to working professionals who have high standards when it comes to dating. It’s an exclusive, members-only dating app that reviews your Facebook and LinkedIn data before it accepts you. This can be a pain, but at the same time, it supports the idea that their user base is vetted for their educational and professional background. In fact, 99 percent of its users have a college degree. Word has it that it works best for people in large cities and for men in their 20s to mid-30s (they just started accepting people over 40 in 2017). The median age is 28.

The League has some positive aspects to it, especially if you’re looking for educated professionals. It also kicks out users who are flaky/don’t respond to people, haven’t logged in over 30 days, or make lewd comments. So the site is high quality, but it’s only available in select cities: Cleveland, NYC, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, London, Philadelphia, Columbus, Atlanta, Miami, Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Denver, Seattle, Toronto, Sacramento, New Haven, San Antonio, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh, Charlotte, Detroit, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Orlando.

Cove

Cove is an interesting dating app that’s set up like a game: First, you play compatibility games to get matches. You only have 72 hours to accept a match. Then, your interactions with people are broken up into three levels.

The first level is text messaging, the second is voice messaging, and the third is video messaging. You have to exchange two texts before you can voice message. Then, after two voice messages, you can exchange one video message. Once that’s done, you can share phone numbers. If you can’t achieve all this in one week, the entire message thread with the person disappears. Crazy, right?

Cove demographics aren’t readily available, but it could be worth a look. It’s innovative approach is likely to appeal to an educated, professional audience who is tech-savvy and doesn’t want to waste their valuable time.

If you’re interested in downloading Cove, I recently created an article on How Dating App Cove Works along with another article on A Complete Review of New Dating App Cove.

Coffee Meets Bagel

On Coffee Meets Bagel, men receive 21 “bagels” (matches) every day at noon that they can either like or pass on. Women are sent 5 bagels a day from the pool of men who liked them. At that point, either the woman chooses to complete the match or pass. The site has a “ladies choice” mentality, since women have control over whether things move forward initially.

The site has mixed reviews, and isn’t really popular everywhere (it’s said to work best in San Francisco and possibly NYC). However, it’s said to appeal to young professionals age 21-35, so you might want to add it to the mix.

eHarmony (Pass on It)

Normally, I wouldn’t include this on a list of the best dating sites for professionals, but I figured I should explain why, since eHarmony is traditionally well-known in this demographic.

eHarmony started all the way back in 2000, and always marketed itself as being a dating site for long-term relationships. It boasted a very extensive personality questionnaire (436 questions!) and a scientific approach to finding matches.

Today, however, it seems to have been overtaken by all the new dating sites out there. Reviewers tend to say they get less responses on it compared to other large dating sites. Its subscription costs are still pretty high as well.

It also has developed a reputation for not changing with the times (“Flash site from the early 2000s,” as one Redditor put it). I personally haven’t had any clients who have had success with it in at least four years — so unfortunately, my advice on this one is, don’t waste your time.

Smaller Dating Sites and Apps for Professionals

If you’re really on the hunt for dating sites for educated professionals, you might also want to look into some of the smaller, more niche options. Depending on your other interests, a niche site can kill two birds with one stone by helping you find educated professionals who also share one of your other important interests.

According to Give Your Hand a Break, many small sites attract a good percentage of college grads. Here’s a look at some sites from that list with the highest percentages of users with graduate degrees:

JewishCafe.com (46%): For Jewish singles. Communicate for three weeks absolutely free. Filters are geared towards Jewish culture; for example, you can search by attendance at temple or synagogue.

VeggieConnection.com (45%): For vegetarians, vegans, raw foodists, etc. Free for same-sex couples but hetero must pay subscription fee (one month is $16).

JPeopleMeet.com (45%): For Jewish singles. Fairly low subscription fee (one month is $13.99).

Jeevansathi.com (39%): Indian matrimony website that allows you to search profiles by mother tongue, caste, religion, and other criteria. You can search profiles and chat with members for free, or there are subscription options.

RepublicanPeopleMeet.com (21%): For “intelligent, conservative singles.” Allows you to browse and receive matches for free.

MuslimFriends.com (20%): For Muslims looking for dating and marriage.

SoulGeek.com (20%): “The Cyber Home for Geek Dating,” this site caters to people into sci-fi, horror, fantasy, animation, anime, comics, video games, conventions, cosplay and more.

Qiran.com (19%): Muslim matrimonial site that has over five million members.

BlackBabyBoomerMeet.com (15%): For African Americans in the Baby Boomer generation.

BlackPeopleMeet.com (16%): Founded in 2002, this site says it has the largest community of African-Amerian singles.

TallFriends.com (14%): A place to mingle with “single, tall, beautiful women.” Free to create a profile and browse.

MuslimMatrimony.com (13%): “The largest and most exclusive matrimony service for Muslims.”

TheAtlasphere.com (9%): For fans of the books The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. The dating feature is part of a site that includes other content on the subject.

PassionsNetwork.com (8%): An aggregator of “over 200+ unique dating sites.”

What About LinkedIn?

Crazy as it sounds, some people try to use LinkedIn as a covert way of finding dates. In a way, it makes total sense. If you’re looking to date other professionals, you’ll find most of them on LinkedIn, since it’s a site for professional connections.

Obviously, approaching someone on LinkedIn itself might be kind of awkward. If you write to women on LinkedIn, your message could be taken in the wrong way — as in, a form of harassment (since she’s not there for dating) or a sexist statement (as in, you’re ignoring her professional profile only to comment on her attractiveness).

So for that reason, if you do see someone you think is interesting on LinkedIn, it’s probably best to look them up elsewhere like Facebook or Twitter, or see if any mutual friends you have can just introduce you. Plus, you won’t know if they’re taken, so you’ll have to investigate that, too.

Sounds like a lot of work, but one woman actually claimed she got a few good dates that way, and that they were higher quality than real dating apps! So, you never know what could come out of it if you are discreet about it.

Still sounds a little risky? Actually, one smart dating site has already picked up on the LinkedIn trend, which may make it easier. BeLinked, which bills itself as “a safe way to meet authentic people,” openly trolls LinkedIn data for matches in order to help “career-driven professionals” find love.

Dating Sites for Educated Professionals: Wrap-Up

We now have more dating sites than ever before, which is overwhelming, but also exciting. With all the dating apps for professionals out there today, it’s much easier to locate people with the exact characteristics that we want, without feeling like we’re searching for a needle in a haystack.

Searching for people based on education and professional background is a smart way to identify those who could potentially share your interests and general view of the world. While it does narrow the playing field, it also can help you pinpoint your ideal match much faster.

As discussed earlier, another good way to speed up your dating search is to hire a coach and matchmaker. 

If your dating life isn’t giving you the results you want right now, you might be making similar mistakes that other men do. Maybe you’re sabotaging things in a way you don’t realize, or you’re not aware of resources that you could be using to help you find women.

Whatever it is, a dating service like us here at emlovz can help you see these things, helping you achieve more success. 

If you’re ready to take things to the next level, either myself or one of my coaches would be happy to do a 1-on-1 New Client Zoom Session with you to identify what’s going on and give you personal feedback. And of course we’ll determine if coaching or matchmaking could be right for you.