8 Best Dating Apps for Small Towns (2024)

Singles who live in a small town may think their local dating options are limited to a handful of people, but dating apps for small towns can prove otherwise.

Online dating is full of romantic possibilities. About 30% of all American adults have joined a dating site or app in hopes of meeting someone new, and a significant chunk of them have gotten in a relationship or even gotten married as a result.

Single men and women can start swiping on the best dating apps for small towns to find love around the corner.

Best Overall Dating Apps for Small Towns

If you live in a rural area, then you will probably have more luck on dating apps for small towns than you would on dating sites for city slickers. The following services can help local singles find date prospects without having to leave home.

Match tops our list of local dating sites and apps because it has the longest track record of success in the industry and provides serious networking tools to back up small-town daters.

This online dating site launched in 1995 to help singles meet new people more efficiently than ever before, and it has led to millions of relationships and marriages in 50 countries.

When you set up your Match dating profile, you can set your location settings to search for dates within a certain mile radius (up to 975 miles) or within a certain region (city, state, or country). You can also check the “show me profiles near where I live” option to make sure the algorithm ranks closeby date prospects first.

EliteSingles is a dating website and app for single professionals seeking a long-term partner. The vast majority of Elite Singles members are college graduates who are over 30 and done playing games.

You won’t find any superficial swiping features on Elite Singles. This online dating site uses a sophisticated matchmaking system to date prospects that are similar to each other in many ways — and live in the same area.

EliteSingles members can go into the Dating Preferences sections to make it clear what they’re looking for and how far they’re willing to travel to get it. Singles who are open to a long distance relationship can select “I don’t mind” in the distance column, or they can set a mile radius for 50 miles, 100 miles, 200 miles, or 300 miles.

Zoosk is a dating platform that has taken a page out of the social media playbook by offering matchmaking games and a variety of communication options to keep people engaged.

The Zoosk team has pioneered a behavioral matchmaking system that learns what you like based on studying who you like and chat with on the dating site and app. If you swipe right on a blonde in your ZIP code, for example, then Zoosk will start recommending more light-haired locals. Our Zoosk review can tell you more on how the match process works.

Whether you live in the U.S. or India, you can set up an account on Zoosk to become part of a global singles community that is over 40 million members strong.

From the outset, eharmony has been all about love, and its mission to strengthen marriage hasn’t changed one jot in the last 20 years. This dating service appeals primarily to mature and relationship-minded singles who want to find their ideal match. To date, eharmony has inspired over 2 million long-term relationships in the U.S.

It can take a little while to complete your eharmony profile and take its psychological assessment, but all that information helps refine the site’s personalized match recommendations. The 32-factor Compatibility Quiz focuses on the things that really matter in a relationship — personal motivation, communication style, temperament, and lifestyle.

All eharmony users can view their compatibility score and send icebreaker quizzes to their top-rated matches, but only premium members can send unlimited messages and video chat invites.

Christian Mingle is a faith-driven dating site and app where Christian singles can enjoy the blessing of a loving community. People of all religious backgrounds are welcome to join the platform, but about 90% of members identify as Christian in their dating profile.

Location is one of the most important matchmaking factors on Christian Mingle. As soon as you log in, you’ll see a curated list of dating profiles that represent locals who may even go to the same church or belong to the same congregation as you. Don’t be surprised if a familiar face shows up in your matches.

Christian Mingle encourages singles to connect based on shared values, so it’s easy to break the ice and build a relationship on this platform.

Established in 2002, BlackPeopleMeet is a niche dating site that represents a robust and growing community of Black singles in North America. This platform celebrates diversity and supports anyone who wants to find a dark-skinned date.

BlackPeopleMeet is a great channel for Black dating, but it can also facilitate interracial dating because it doesn’t close the door on singles of any ethnic or cultural background. As long as you agree that Black is beautiful, you are welcome to mingle in the BPM network with a free or paid membership.

Singles who live in a small town or rural area may not encounter a lot of diversity in the local dating network, so it helps to have the BPM network get them in touch with people from different walks of life.

OkCupid is an online dating app that offers completely free communication to all members with a completed dating profile. No hidden fees and no subscription required.

Any guy or gal can send a first message for free, but they have to wait for their online crush to like their dating profile before they can send a second message. Only mutual matches can engage in a conversation on the OkCupid app and site, and members can easily block anyone who bothers them online.

OkCupid facilitates over 2.6 million first dates a year, and it can offer a good opportunity for small town folks to expand their horizons and meet all sorts of single people.

Plenty of Fish launched in Canada in 2003 to encourage singles to dive into a larger dating pool than they can find in real life. Now, almost 20 years later, the POF community has over 150 million members in 20 countries and counting.

The biggest perk about jumping on the POF bandwagon is that you’ll enjoy free communication with everyone right away. You don’t need to wait to form a match to say hi, and the only reason to upgrade to a paid membership plan is if you want to rank higher in searches and match lists. Paid members have Gold Star designation throughout the online dating site, and that means they generally receive more likes and messages than do free members.

Many people mistakenly think that Tinder was the first ever dating app, but it was actually just the first to use swipe-based matching to power communication. The swiping feature made it go viral in 2012, and it has made over 43 billion matches since then.

Over the years, Tinder has earned its reputation as the fastest way to pick up a date. Singles will only see profiles in their particular area, and they can set a mile radius for as little as five miles. Pro tip: If you live in a small town, it’s a good idea to increase your preferred mile radius to 30 miles, 50 miles, or even 100 miles to keep your match list full.

Tinder is a free dating app, and you do not need a paid membership to meet single people on this platform. In fact, if Reddit is to be believed, Tinder Gold doesn’t noticeably improve a single person’s online dating prospects. It just gives them more Super Likes.

Bumble is a feminist dating app where a single woman can set the tone in every conversation with a man. Women have First Move Privilege in every opposite-sex match, so they have the sole power to send the first message to a guy they’ve liked.

Bumble is a popular dating app for singles who are serious about building a romantic relationship. In 2020, Bumble surpassed 100 million users, and it continues to grow in young and progressive neighborhoods around the world.

More than 85% of Bumble users say they’re looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend, and fewer than 4% say they are just looking for sex.

Best Senior Dating Apps for Small Towns

As you get older, your social circle gets smaller, and it can become increasingly difficult to meet a new person. If you want to get out of your dating rut and start fresh, then online dating is the way to go.

Whether you’re recently divorced or have been single for decades, you can count on the following senior dating apps to liven up your love life.

SilverSingles has created a smart formula to help senior singles meet their perfect match without putting in a lot of effort. The dating site’s algorithm automatically determines which profiles are most compatible with you in terms of age, location, and lifestyle.

Single people can adjust their match settings to let SilverSingles know what their dealbreakers are when it comes to a potential partner’s education, religion, and family life. They can also indicate if these factors are important, somewhat important, or not important at all to them.

OurTime is a niche dating site that caters to the over-50 crowd. It has an active membership base of over 20 million singles in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Mature daters have flocked to OurTime because it represents new hope in the dating world. Its search tools and matching technology can give like-minded singles the chance to meet one another in a safe environment. They can even arrange a phone conversation or video date through the ConnectMe feature and keep their phone numbers private.

Another perk is that OurTime members aren’t limited by their location. They can look for dates by city, state, or province and create a long distance relationship one message at a time.

Last of all, SeniorMatch has touched many senior people’s lives with the simple message: You don’t have to be alone. This over-50 dating platform fosters a community that is 1 million members strong, so it’s a great way to go beyond your small town to look for new friends and dates.

SeniorMatch streamlines the online dating process by providing straightforward search tools, members-only dating forums, and instant communication options to all users.

Since launching in 2003, Senior Match has inspired over 36,000 love stories and given baby boomers new hope in the dating scene.

Best LGBT Dating Apps for Small Towns

A small town can seem even smaller if you’re in a minority group. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people can face unique challenges when looking for dates in their local neighborhood. For one thing, it could be difficult to find other LGBTQ singles in the area, and they could fear the judgment and prejudice of their peers.

Fortunately, online dating sites can offer a private and safe space to explore local gay dating options and connect with like-minded people — even if you’re still in the closet.

MenNation is an anonymous sex site geared toward single men who identify as gay, bisexual, fluid, queer, or questioning. It doesn’t cost anything to become a member of this adult dating network, and a guy can quickly establish a romantic relationship by posting in the forums and sending direct messages.

Instead of going to a gay bar, a man can log into MenNation to flirt with guys and arrange sexy encounters. The hookup site provides local search tools and X-rated photo galleries to turn up the heat. Plus, MenNation has a sexy livestream broadcast where men strip down and offer themselves as eye candy for men feeling horny at home.

LesbianPersonals is a sister site to MenNation, and it offers a similar sexy haven for women in the queer community. This female-friendly hookup site is open to single women, lesbian couples, straight couples, and polyamorous groups seeking female companionship.

Women are in the majority on LesbianPersonals, which puts them in the driver’s seat when it comes to making matches and sexting strangers. They have plenty of date options at their fingertips, so they never have to be alone on a Friday or Saturday night.

LesbianPersonals doesn’t judge women for following their passions and desires. In fact, it has led to more lesbian hookups than any other dating service.

A lesbian woman named Robyn Exton founded the HER dating app in 2013 because she was tired of matching with men on mainstream apps. She decided to do better for queer women everywhere, and the HER network has blossomed under Robyn’s leadership.

HER now has over 5 million members worldwide — almost half of whom are in the U.S. — and it facilitates lesbian friendships and relationships with its community-oriented tools. A woman can comment on photos, send private messages, or respond to event invites through this unique social networking app.

“Thank God for the HER dating app,” said Aisha and Monisha in an online testimonial. “Our first date was the beginning of something beautiful — the more we spoke the more we grew to love one another.”

Since its launch in 2009, Grindr has been a great ally of LGBTQ people in every corner of the world. This gay dating app uses location-based matching to put singles in touch with local date options and inspire real-time connections.

A gay person can whip out Grindr whenever he’s feeling flirty and use the swiping tools to spark mutual matches that lead to flirty chats and promising first dates.

It’s completely free to swipe, match, and chat on Grindr, though some gay singles choose to upgrade to Grindr Xtra to get more profile views, search tools, and chat options. Only Grindr Xtra members can lock the app with a PIN code, and they also get read receipts on all their messages.

Best Hookup Apps for Small Towns

Not everyone in a small town is interested in putting down roots — some sexually active singles are just looking to enjoy themselves and let the future take care of itself. Here are the top-rated casual hookup platforms for people who want to get down and dirty.

Ashley Madison has made a scandalous name for itself as the dating site for affairs, and it has been undeniably popular in certain secret circles. Over 60 million members have created an anonymous dating profile on Ashley Madison, and another 22,000 members join the network every month.

People say it’s impossible to keep a secret in a small town, but Ashley Madison has done a good job of hiding identities in its anonymous dating scene. Members can mask or blur themselves in their profile pictures — or not upload a photo at all — and they don’t have to provide many personal details to get their profile up and running.

In a recent survey, Ashley Madison found that 54% of its members said they are looking for short-term affairs, and 61% said they wanted to have extramarital sex.

BeNaughty can spice up your sex life, even if you live in a small city. Size doesn’t matter on this hookup website — all that matters is sex appeal.

A free BeNaughty account includes some free communication options, including a FlirtCast message sent to all your matches, and it’s possible to land a hot date without paying for a subscription. However, BeNaughty’s membership prices add up to less than a dollar per day, so it could be worth the upgrade to get more browsing, chat, and security features.

Since 1996, Adult Friend Finder has welcomed over 102 million members and published over 98 million sexy photos. AFF can open the door to a massive sex network, and all you need is an email address to join.

People come from all walks of life to enjoy the sexually permissive atmosphere of AFF. Some are single and looking for no-strings-attached sex, while others are in an open relationship and looking for a threesome partner.

Adult Friend Finder has kinky search tools and live model shows to help members satisfy their secret desires. Our full review goes into more detail about what an AFF membership entails.

FriendFinder-X has powerful local search tools that prioritize date prospects that are within the same big city or small town. All singles have to do is put in their ZIP code and click Search Now to see what flirtatious possibilities are out there.

This easy-to-use hookup site provides open-ended dating forums, member videos, and private chat tools to keep people engaged, and it is completely free to explore. The only catch is that the instant messaging tools aren’t free for everyone — single men must get a monthly subscription to have full access to FriendFinder-X. Meanwhile single women can chat as much as they like for free.

Flirt.com is a positively steamy place to pick up a local date. Everyone on this hookup site is looking to get laid, and they’re comfortable moving fast in the dating scene.

It takes less than five minutes to complete your profile and start browsing for matches on Flirt.com. The hookup site has search tools based on age, appearance, and relationship status to narrow the field to the most promising prospects. Plus, you can always swipe through photos in the Like Gallery to spark a romantic connection with someone who is online and available for a casual hookup.

What’s Considered a Small Town?

Small is a relative term, and small towns come in all shapes and sizes. Any town with fewer than 100,000 residents is considered a small town in the U.S. Each small town has its own unique flavor, but a common trait is a friendly community spirit that brings neighbors together.

How Do I Meet Singles in Small Towns?

Sometimes singles exhaust the date prospects in their own social circle, and they begin to wonder if they’ll ever meet someone new. This is a common frustration, especially among single professionals who don’t necessarily have the time or energy to scour the bar scene.

Fortunately, going to a bar or club isn’t the only way to pick up a date these days. Meetup.com can direct you to upcoming social events that could become dating opportunities. Single people can join a club, attend community events, or download a dating app to meet dateworthy folks in their area.

There are many ways to meet local singles, but online dating is by far the best. It’s fast, convenient, and affordable, and it gives singles the ability to be specific and upfront about what they’re looking for in a potential partner.

How Do Dating Apps for Small Towns Work?

Typically, dating apps will use some sort of location-based matching to make sure a person’s match list highlights nearby and viable date options. You can usually set a mile radius that indicates how far you’re willing to travel to meet someone new.

Every dating app has a different policy when it comes to online communication. Sometimes you will need to strike a mutual match or pay a subscription fee before you can send messages on the dating platform. Some free dating apps may also require users to upload a profile picture or connect to a Facebook or Instagram account.

Is It Safe to Use Dating Apps for Small Towns?

Singles who have grown up in a tiny town may find the vast databases of online dating more than a little intimidating. It’s normal to be nervous about diving into a dating pool of strangers. But online dating has safety measures to keep individuals from getting into trouble.

One of the most important things you can do to keep yourself safe is vet your date prospects before agreeing to meet in person. That means asking a lot of questions in your chats and doing a little research on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms to make sure that person’s story lines up.

Keep in mind that over half of Americans say they have lied on their dating profiles, so you may find discrepancies in a person’s job title, age, or appearance. It’s up to you to determine if these fibs are harmless or if they signal bad intentions.

Dating sites and apps don’t conduct thorough background checks on everyone who creates an account, but they often have some sort of security protocols to keep unsavory folks out.

A dating service can implement processes to verify a person’s photos, location, gender, or other profile details. It can also flag suspicious accounts and fake profiles by identifying red flags of scammers such as using a stock photo and sending form letters to every potential match.

What are the Search Functionalities on Local Dating Apps?

Local dating apps will usually allow singles to identify what they’re looking for by using search tools, match settings, or date preferences. These sections may stick to the basics of age, location, gender, and sexual orientation, or they may have more advanced search features for height, hair color, religion, education, relationship status, and other background information.

These search filters vary based on the needs and expectations of certain types of online daters. A hookup app will offer search filters for a lot of physical traits, while a Christian dating site will provide more faith-oriented search tools for things like church attendance and denomination.

Which Dating App for Small Towns Should I Choose?

We’ve ranked and reviewed dozens of good options for small town folks, and you can’t really go wrong with any of them. But some will be better for you than others. You have to think hard about what type of online dating experience you want to determine which dating site or app can deliver the best results.

For instance, if you’re serious about settling down but don’t exactly know what type of partner you’re looking for, then eharmony can be a wonderful guide in the local dating scene. The eharmony platform recommends viable matches, complete with compatibility ratings, to make your options clear.

The eharmony platform excels at identifying long-term compatibility, and it works best for single professionals who are ready to commit and willing to invest in their love lives.

Of course, if you’re more interested in fooling around, playing the field, or saving money, then casual dating sites and apps will be more your style.

Small Town Singles Can Widen Their Search for Love Online

You don’t have to live in a big city to enjoy swiping and matching on dating apps. Small town singles can use the advanced technology of a dating service to go beyond their city limits in the search for love and romance.

The best dating apps for small towns can give local singles the opportunity to meet people who may not have crossed their paths otherwise.

It’s free to join all of the dating sites and apps on this list, and they all have something unique to offer the single population. Your dating profile could be your ticket to interesting conversations, fun first dates, and romantic relationships that make life worthwhile. Best of luck!