Is single season over?

The number of unpartnered adults — not married, living with a partner or in a committed romantic relationship — has declined for the first time in nearly 20 years. That’s good news for men’s wallets.

About 42% of adults were unpartnered in 2023, down from peaking at 44% in 2019, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data.

Meanwhile, the share of adults who were married inched up from 50% to 51% from 2019 to 2023 along with the share of adults cohabiting with an unmarried partner — up from 6% to 7%.

“Singledom has peaked,” Dr. Richard Fry, a labor economist who conducted the survey, told CBS News.

But it’s not that more people are tying the knot.

Marriage rates have remained steady but divorce rates — which peaked at 2% in 2012 — dropped to a record low of 1.4% in 2023.

“In my practice over the last decade, I’ve noticed a gradual shift from the ‘romantic marriage’ to the ‘companionate marriage,’ meaning that people are increasingly choosing spouses at the outset who are more like best friends than passion partners,” Ian Kerner, a licensed marriage and family therapist, told CNNexplaining the dip in divorces.

But who’s still sitting at a table for one?

The likelihood of being unpartnered changes depending on race, education and nativity.

About 61% of black adults are unpartnered, compared with 45% of Hispanic adults, 38% of white adults and 35% of Asian adults.

Meanwhile, those who have at least a bachelor’s degree and were born in the U.S. are more likely to be unpartnered.

Men younger than 40 stand more of a chance to be unpartnered than women in their age group. But once they hit the big 4-0, women are more likely to be unpartnered, with 51% of women 65 and older being single, compared with only 29% of men in the same age group.

And they’re OK with that.

Turns out, women enjoy flying solo a whole lot more than men, a study recently published in Social Psychological and Personality Science found.

On every question, single women answered that they were more satisfied with their lives than single men. They were happier being on their own, less likely to want a significant other, more sexually satisfied and more content overall.

Single men “have more to gain from partnering than do single women,” the experts said.

Fry noted that “from a purely economic point of view, adults who have partners seem to be better off financially.” This was especially true for men.

Only about 64% of unpartnered adults said they were doing at least OK financially, compared with 77% of partnered adults. But men are even worse off financially when on their own, with single men being much less likely than partnered men to be employed.

“Economically successful men are more attractive partners, but marriage also makes them more ‘successful on the job,’ ” said Fry.

“Men are more productive if they get married.”