Ghosting Statistics 2026: How Common Is It?

Ghosting has become a common part of modern dating, friendships, and even the workplace. Instead of explaining why they want to end a relationship or communication, people may simply stop responding and disappear without warning. 

Recent surveys show that ghosting affects a significant share of adults, with younger people and online daters reporting particularly high rates. The behavior also extends beyond romantic relationships, with people reporting ghosting by friends, employers, job candidates, and new hires. It shows that ghosting is not just a dating trend but a broader communication behavior that has become easier in an increasingly digital world. 

In this article, we look at Ghosting Statistics 2026 to examine how common ghosting is, who experiences it most often, where it happens, why people do it, and how being ghosted can affect people.

Key Ghosting Stats Summary

• 30% of U.S. adults said they had ghosted someone, according to a YouGov survey.
• 29% of U.S. adults reported being ghosted in Pew Research Center’s survey.
• 42% of adults ages 18 to 29 had experienced ghosting, compared with 14% of adults 65+.
• 62% of current online daters reported being ghosted, compared with 19% of people with no online dating experience.
• 34% of millennials reported being ghosted in their dating lives, compared with 21% of Gen Z in a separate 2023 study.
• 25% of U.S. adults said they had been ghosted by a friend, compared with 19% by someone they dated.
• 76% of surveyed U.S. adults who had dated in the previous five years had either ghosted someone or been ghosted.
• 10.9% of U.S. workers said they had ghosted an employer by missing a job interview.
• 4.1% of 157,154 accepted job offers resulted in a new hire failing to show up on the first day without notifying the employer.
• 39% of recent new-hire ghosters in the 2026 workplace study cited having another job offer as a reason for not showing up.

How Common Is Ghosting?

Ghosting is a common experience among U.S. adults. According to a survey of 1,782 U.S. adults conducted on January 24, 2019, 30% said they had ghosted someone, meaning they abruptly ended contact with a romantic partner or friend without explaining why. Meanwhile, 61% said they had never ghosted someone, while 9% were unsure.

In other words, about 3 in 10 U.S. adults had ghosted someone at some point. The findings show that ghosting is not limited to dating and can also occur in friendships and other personal relationships.

Source: YouGov

Ghosting Statistics by Age and Gender

Pew Research Center’s 2019 survey provides one of the clearest population-level measures of ghosting in the U.S. Overall, 29% of U.S. adults said someone they had gone out with suddenly stopped answering their calls or messages without explanation. The results show that age is a much stronger dividing line than gender, while people with online dating experience report ghosting at substantially higher rates.

29% of U.S. Adults Have Experienced Ghosting

Nearly 3 in 10 U.S. adults (29%) said they had experienced ghosting. Pew defined this as someone they had gone out with suddenly stopping responses to calls or messages without explanation. 

This makes 29% a useful broad benchmark, although the survey measured experiences reported in 2019, not a 2026 prevalence rate.

42% of Adults Ages 18 to 29 Have Been Ghosted

Young adults reported the highest rate of ghosting. 42% of people ages 18 to 29 said they had experienced it, meaning more than 4 in 10 had encountered this behavior. The rate was also considerably higher than the 29% reported by adults overall.

Source: Pew Research Centre

37% of Adults Ages 30 to 49 Report Ghosting

Among adults ages 30 to 49, 37% said they had been ghosted. Although this was 5 percentage points lower than the rate for 18 to 29-year-olds, it was still above the overall adult figure of 29%.

Only 14% of Adults 65+ Have Experienced Ghosting

Ghosting becomes less common among older adults. Just 14% of people ages 65 and older reported being ghosted. That is 28 percentage points lower than the 42% reported by 18 to 29-year-olds.

Women and Men Report Nearly Identical Rates

The gender difference was minimal. Around 30% of women reported being ghosted compared with 29% of men, a difference of just 1 percentage point. Pew therefore found no meaningful overall gender gap in reported ghosting experiences.

Source: Pew Research Centre

53% of People With Online Dating Experience Have Been Ghosted

Ghosting was much more common among people who had used online dating. 53% of people with online dating experience said they had been ghosted, compared with only 19% of people who had never used online dating. That represents a 34-percentage-point difference between the two groups.

62% of Current Online Daters Report Being Ghosted

Among people who were currently using online dating, 62% said they had experienced ghosting. This was more than double the 29% rate among U.S. adults overall, making current online dating one of the strongest differences in the Pew data.

62% of Adults Had Heard the Term “Ghosting”

Ghosting was already widely recognized by the time of Pew’s survey. 62% of U.S. adults said they had heard the term “ghosting.” This shows that awareness of the behavior was much more widespread than personal experience with it, since 62% had heard of it compared with 29% who said they had experienced it.

Ghosting Rates by Generation

34% of Millennials Report Being Ghosted

34% of millennials said they had been ghosted at some point in their dating lives, according to the Survey Center on American Life’s January 2023 American Perspectives Survey. This made millennials the generation most likely to report experiencing ghosting in the study.

21% of Gen Z Respondents Have Experienced Ghosting

Among Gen Z respondents, 21% reported being ghosted in their dating lives. That was 13 percentage points lower than the millennial rate of 34%, showing a notable difference between the two generations in this survey.

Millennials Were 1.6 Times More Likely to Report Ghosting

The 34% millennial rate was about 1.6 times the 21% rate reported by Gen Z respondents. However, this should not be interpreted as proof that millennials are inherently more likely to experience ghosting.

24% of Americans Reported Being Ghosted

The same Survey Center study found that 24% of Americans overall had been ghosted by someone they were dating. Among Americans who were currently single, the figure increased to 29%. This provides useful context for the higher rates reported by millennials.

Dating App Ghosting Statistics

Dating apps appear to make ghosting especially common during the early stages of dating. A 2023 Forbes Health/OnePoll survey of 5,000 U.S. adults who had actively dated in the previous five years found that 76% had either ghosted someone or been ghosted while dating. Nearly 60% said they had been ghosted, while 45% said they had ghosted someone themselves.

Nearly Two-Thirds Ghosted Before Meeting in Person

Among respondents who had ghosted someone, nearly two-thirds said they had stopped responding after briefly talking to the person on a dating app but before meeting in person. This was the most common stage for ghosting in the survey, suggesting that ending communication can feel easier when the relationship exists mainly through messages.

Around 54% of People Have Ghosted Someone After One Date

Just over 54% of respondents who had ghosted someone said they did so after only one in-person date. At this point, the relationship may still have limited emotional investment, which can make it easier for someone to end contact without having a direct conversation.

39% of People Have Ghosted Someone After Multiple Dates

Ghosting did not stop after the first date. Around 39% said they had ghosted someone after going on multiple dates. This shows that ghosting can continue even after two people have established some face-to-face connection.

About 30% of People Have Ghosted Someone After Having Sex Once

30% of respondents said they had ghosted someone after having sex with that person once. This is notable because it shows that ghosting can occur even after a relationship has moved beyond app conversations and early dates.

Ghosting Is Most Common at the Earliest Dating Stages

The overall pattern suggests that ghosting is particularly common when a connection is still new and has limited commitment. The highest figure came from people who had only communicated through a dating app and had never met in person, while the percentage declined as relationships progressed. However, the survey also shows that ghosting does not disappear after people meet or become more intimate.

Ghosting Statistics by Relationship Type

Ghosting is not limited to romantic relationships or dating apps. People also report being ghosted by friends and family members. A 2021 YouGov survey of 7,180 U.S. adults found that friendship ghosting was more commonly reported than romantic or family ghosting.

25% of U.S. Adults Have Been Ghosted by a Friend

One in four U.S. adults (25%) said they had been ghosted by a friend in the YouGov survey. This was higher than the 19% who said they had been ghosted by someone they dated, suggesting that friendship ghosting can be at least as common as romantic ghosting in the general population.

19% Have Ghosted a Friend Themselves

19% of U.S. adults reported that they had ghosted a friend. The figure was slightly lower than the 25% who said they had been ghosted by a friend, creating a 6-percentage-point gap between reported experiences and reported behavior.

38.6% of a Research Sample Had Been Ghosted by a Friend

Freedman et al. found a considerably higher rate in an academic sample. Among 747 participants, 38.6% reported that they had been ghosted by a former friend, while 31.7% said they had previously ghosted a former friend. These figures show that friendship ghosting can be widespread, but they should not be treated as a national U.S. prevalence estimate.

12% Have Experienced Family Ghosting

12% of U.S. adults said they had been ghosted by a family member. Family ghosting can be more difficult to define because reduced communication may result from many circumstances. A period of limited contact is not necessarily ghosting, and it can overlap with family estrangement, where people intentionally maintain little or no contact over a longer period.

Friendship Ghosting Is More Common Than Dating Ghosting

The YouGov results show a 6-percentage-point difference between friendship and dating ghosting. 25% reported being ghosted by a friend compared with 19% by someone they dated. This suggests that ghosting is a broader social behavior rather than something limited to dating apps and romantic relationships.

Ghosting in the Workplace Statistics

Ghosting also occurs in the workplace, but it is measured differently from dating or friendship ghosting. In employment research, workplace ghosting usually refers to job candidates or new hires suddenly ending communication without notice, such as missing an interview or failing to report for a job they already accepted.

4.1% of Accepted Job Offers Resulted in New Hire Ghosting

A 2026 study analyzed 157,154 accepted job offers at a large telecommunications company between 2019 and 2025. 

Researchers found that 6,455 accepted offers, or 4.1%, resulted in new hires failing to show up on their first day without notifying the employer. The study also found that the rate reached 6.1% in April 2020, during the early COVID-19 period.

10.9% of Workers Have Ghosted a Job Interview

A 2025 iHire survey of 1,645 U.S. workers found that 10.9% had ghosted an employer by failing to show up for a job interview. The rate varied by generation, reaching 15.3% among Gen Z, 12.6% among millennials, 12.5% among Gen X, and 3.4% among baby boomers.

Source: iHire Survey

3.9% of Survey Participants Had Ghosted a New Hire Job

The 2026 academic study also conducted a separate survey of U.S. adults. Among 9,040 people initially screened, 3.9% reported that they had accepted a job but failed to show up for the first day without informing the employer. The researchers then examined a smaller sample of recent ghosters and employed non-ghosters to study the reasons behind this behavior.

39% Cited Another Job Offer as a Reason for Ghosting

Among recent new-hire ghosters in the study, 39% mentioned having an alternative job offer when explaining why they failed to show up. This suggests that candidates may accept one position while continuing their job search and then silently withdraw when a more attractive opportunity appears.

How Being Ghosted Affects People

Being ghosted can be upsetting and confusing, especially when someone suddenly stops replying without giving a reason. People may start wondering what went wrong or whether they did something wrong. However, not everyone reacts to ghosting in the same way.

1. Emotional Impact of Ghosting

A Forbes Health survey found that more than half of people felt upset after being ghosted. Nearly 39% felt inadequate, while 22% felt angry. At the same time, ghosting did not always have a negative effect. Almost 29% said they felt relieved after the experience.

Ghosting also appears to affect men and women differently in some areas. 25% of women said being ghosted made them feel anxious or afraid about dating again, compared with 17% of men.

2. Ghosting Can Affect Self-Esteem

Research by Freedman and colleagues found that people who had been ghosted experienced stronger feelings that their basic emotional needs were being threatened. These included belonging, self-esteem, control, and feeling that their life has meaning.

People who were ghosted were more likely to describe feelings such as sadness and hurt. Those who did the ghosting, on the other hand, were more likely to report guilt and relief.

Is Ghosting Worse Than Direct Rejection?

Ghosting is not necessarily more painful than a direct breakup or rejection. Research suggests that the main difference is the lack of explanation and closure. When someone is ghosted, they may not know why the relationship ended or whether it has actually ended.

This uncertainty can make people feel excluded and leave them with unanswered questions. In other words, the emotional pain of ghosting may come less from the rejection itself and more from being left without an explanation.

Why Do People Ghost?

People ghost for different reasons, and research suggests that the behavior is usually linked to avoiding difficult conversations, losing interest, convenience, digital communication, or concerns about personal safety. There is no single reason that explains every case. In some situations, ghosting may be an attempt to avoid an uncomfortable interaction, while in others it can be a deliberate way to protect oneself.

1. Avoiding an Uncomfortable Conversation

One of the most common explanations for ghosting is the desire to avoid a difficult conversation. Telling someone directly that you are no longer interested can feel awkward, especially when the relationship is new. 

Research suggests that some people view disappearing as an easier alternative to explaining their feelings or delivering a rejection. Digital communication makes this easier because people can simply stop replying rather than having the conversation in person.

2. Ghosting Can Feel Like an Easier Exit

Ghosting can also be driven by convenience. Ending a relationship through a direct conversation requires time, emotional effort, and a willingness to deal with the other person’s reaction. 

Simply stopping communication removes much of that effort. Research on ghosting repeatedly identifies ease and convenience as important reasons people choose this approach.

3. Safety Can Be a Reason for Ghosting

Not every case of ghosting is about avoiding responsibility. Safety concerns can also play an important role. Someone may stop responding because they feel uncomfortable, threatened, or worried about how the other person could react to rejection. 

In these situations, cutting off communication can function as a safety strategy rather than simply an attempt to avoid an awkward conversation. Research on ghosting recognizes that people sometimes use withdrawal when they do not feel comfortable communicating their decision directly.

4. Losing Interest Without Saying It

Another common reason is simply loss of interest. A person may become less interested as they get to know someone but decide not to explain the change. This is particularly relevant during the early stages of dating, when people may have exchanged only a few messages or gone on one or two dates. 

Because there may be little established commitment, some people may feel that they can walk away without providing an explanation.

5. Dating Apps Make Ghosting Easier

The way people communicate online can also encourage ghosting. Dating apps allow people to connect with large numbers of potential partners, often without having an established relationship with them. 

When communication happens mainly through messages, stopping a conversation can require little effort. Research has therefore linked ghosting particularly closely with online and app-based dating, although it also occurs in relationships that begin offline.

FAQs

1. How Common Is Ghosting?

Ghosting is quite common, especially in modern dating. A Forbes Health survey of 5,000 U.S. adults who had dated in the previous five years found that 76% had either ghosted someone or been ghosted, while nearly 60% said they had personally been ghosted.

2. What Percentage of People Have Been Ghosted?

There is no single percentage that applies to everyone. The results vary depending on the age group, type of relationship, and definition of ghosting used in each study. Some recent dating surveys have found rates close to 60%, while broader population studies have reported lower numbers.

3. What Percentage of People Have Ghosted Someone?

The Forbes Health survey found that 45% of people had ghosted someone while dating. The results were similar for women and men, with 47% of women and 44% of men saying they had ghosted someone.

4. Who Ghosts More, Men or Women?

There does not appear to be a large difference between men and women when it comes to admitting to ghosting. 47% of women and 44% of men in the Forbes Health survey said they had ghosted someone. The differences become more noticeable in some studies when looking at who has been ghosted rather than who has done the ghosting.

5. Is Ghosting More Common on Dating Apps?

Ghosting is common on dating apps because people can easily stop responding without having a face-to-face conversation. One Forbes survey found that 41% of respondents had experienced ghosting on dating apps.

6. Can Friends Ghost Each Other?

Yes. Ghosting also happens in friendships. A YouGov survey found that 25% of U.S. adults had been ghosted by a friend, compared with 19% who had been ghosted by someone they dated. This shows that ghosting is not only a dating issue.

Wrapping Up

The numbers shows that ghosting is now a noticeable part of how people navigate relationships and communication. From dating and friendships to job interviews and new hires, people can experience sudden silence in many areas of life. Younger adults and online daters tend to report higher levels of ghosting, while workplace data shows that the behavior can also have practical consequences for employers and job seekers. 

The reasons behind ghosting differ from one situation to another, ranging from lost interest and avoiding uncomfortable conversations to concerns about personal safety. For those who are ghosted, the lack of an explanation can make the experience particularly difficult because it leaves questions unanswered. Overall, ghosting appears to be less of an isolated dating behavior and more of a broader pattern shaped by modern communication habits.