The rise of online dating and heterogamous marriages

We study how online dating shapes intermarriage by race and education in the United States. Using American Community Survey data and a continuous-treatment two-way fixed effects (TWFE) design, we estimate sizable TWFE coefficients linking platform exposure to interracial marriage that vary across platforms, with weaker estimates for educational homogamy. To probe mechanisms, we surveyed retrospective dating histories, partner preferences, and online dating behavior. Individual fixed-effects panel regressions show that effects of meeting a partner online vary with users’ preferences and filter usage: those with strong same-race preferences use a race filter to meet same-race partners. Thus, platform features and user preferences jointly shape dating patterns.