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Online dating and height

In Match.com searches of Caucasian women in Manhattan, the following numbers of pages were returned based on self-reported heights:

5'2" 9
5'3" 13
5'4" 17
5'5" 18
5'6" 17
5'7" 16
5'8" 13
5'9" 7

These results seem to follow the expected normal distribution, with the modal height of 5'5", but there seem to be more results above 5'5" than below, so I call the median self reported height for women at slightly less than 5'5 1/2".

But the results for Caucasian men (using somewhat different search criteria causing more results to come up) bring the following results:

5'8" 13
5'9" 17
5'10" 22
5'11" 22
6'0" 24
6'1" 15
6'2" 12

These results do not follow the expected normal distribution. The modal height is 6'0" and then there is a sharp dropoff above 6'0". Either men's heights are not distributed according to the expected laws of statistics, or some men are lying about their heights. I strongly suspect the latter.

Because 6'0" is a magic height number, and often a number that women insist on, men who are 5'11" have an especially strong incentive to add an inch to their height. If the numbers for 5'11" and 6'0" were reversed, the distribution would look better, and tell us that the median self-reported height for men is slightly below 5'11".

But I also suspect that men of all heights are far more likely to make themselves taller, so I think it's appropriate to assume that the actual men's heights are half an inch shorter. This brings us to the conlusion that the actual median height for men is around 5'10 1/2", which affirms what I said in a previous post about men being about 5 inches taller, on average, than women.

posted August 20, 2005

4 Comments:

By savvylady:

half an inch shorter? you gotta be kidding. the average height for men in this country is 5'10" -- and even if you flip your stats for the 5 11 and 6 ft guys, you have about 60% of men claiming to be "above average in height"
yeah, right.
i think men measure their height when they have shoes on, and their hair is either spiked up (younger guys) or in a pompadour(old geezers). women like the idea of being shorter than men & tend to give their barefoot height.

hence, a 5'8" woman is usually taller than a 5'8" man.

just dont let him do any construction work around the house, ok? he has a problem with rulers.

posted at 8/22/2005 2:54 PM

By Online Dating Insider:

Either Caucasian men in Manhattan are exaggerating their height by more than half an inch, or they are taller on average than in the rest of the country.

posted at 8/22/2005 7:26 PM

By Ben:

When I'm in an especially bitter mood, I sometimes think that the only reason why men lie is because women are so unreasonable in their search criteria. Have you ever gathered the corresponding statistics for women and their search criteria for height? I'm willing to guess that they match the results for men's self-reported height.

I also sometimes wonder what would happen if Match made breast size a criterion that women would have to self-report and that men would search for. Would we then see a similar size inflation (as it were) from women?

posted at 9/10/2005 10:07 PM

By Online Dating Insider:

Ben, since women are harder to attract to online dating services than me, the online dating services take care not to ask questions that women don't like to answer. This is why very few services have a specific field for weight, and even the ones that do make it optional. Women hate to put a number to their weight. (But wrongly, in my opinion, because without a number men will tend to assume the worst.)

posted at 9/11/2005 9:48 PM