A new YouGov survey on Valentine’s Day and romantic relationships explores if and how Americans intend to celebrate, how much they enjoy the holiday, and how they rate their current romantic relationships
More than one-third (37%) of Americans plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day; 45% do not. Among people who are currently in a romantic or sexual relationship, 52% plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day and 27% do not.
How will Americans celebrate Valentine’s Day? About one-quarter (24%) plan to give or receive a gift, 21% will dine out at a restaurant, and 18% will have sex. 17% will celebrate by giving or receiving a card; the same share (17%) will celebrate by sharing a meal at home. Among Americans currently in a romantic or sexual relationship, 34% plan to give or receive a gift, 32% will dine out, and 30% say they will have sex.
Most Americans (59%) say that Valentine’s Day is a holiday for both romantic and platonic relationships while 28% believe it’s for romantic relationships only. Women are more likely than men to say the holiday celebrates both romantic and platonic relationships (67% vs. 52%).
16% of Americans say they enjoy Valentine’s Day more than an average day, while slightly more (22%) enjoy Valentine’s Day less than an average day. Most Americans (56%) say they enjoy Valentine’s Day about as much as an average day. Americans who are not in relationships are about twice as likely as those who are in relationships to say they enjoy Valentine’s Day less than an average day (32% vs. 15%).
71% of Americans — including 72% of men and 69% of women — consider themselves to be very or somewhat romantic. Among people in relationships, 77% say they are very or somewhat romantic and 72% say their partner is very or somewhat romantic. Men are more likely than women to say their partner is very or somewhat romantic (79% vs. 66%).
Among Americans in relationships, 20% say they are typically primarily responsible for planning Valentine’s Day activities in their relationship. 13% say their partner is primarily responsible and 45% say they and their partner equally share planning responsibilities. One in five (20%) say neither they nor their partner are responsible for planning Valentine’s Day activities in their relationship. Men are more likely than women to say they are primarily responsible for planning Valentine’s Day activities (23% vs. 16%) in their relationship.
24% of women in relationships say they would prefer for their partner to be the person responsible for planning Valentine’s Day activities; 14% of men in relationships say the same. Larger shares of both men and women say they prefer to plan Valentine’s Day activities with their partner equally (53% vs. 44%).
About one-quarter (26%) of Americans say they’ve been disappointed by a partner not doing enough to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Women are three times as likely as men to say this (13% vs. 39%).
In January 2021, a greater share of women (48%) said they had been disappointed by a partner not doing enough to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The 2021 question did not include an option for “I’ve never celebrated Valentine’s Day with a partner.”
Among Americans who describe their current relationship as good, 45% say they have been disappointed by a partner not doing enough to celebrate Valentine’s Day and 43% say they have not been. Among people who describe their relationship as excellent or very good, far fewer (20%) say they’ve been let down by a partner not doing enough to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Among Americans who are in relationships, 39% rate their relationship as excellent. 33% say their relationship is very good, 20% say it’s good, 6% say it’s fair, and 2% say it is poor. Men in relationships are more likely than women in relationships to say their relationship is excellent (45% vs. 34%).
Large majorities of Americans in relationships say they always or usually feel loved (87%), secure (85%), respected (81%), happy (81%), supported (79%), and appreciated (77%) in their current relationship.
Men in relationships are more likely than women in relationships to say they always or usually feel listened to (79% vs. 65%) and happy (87% vs. 76%). Women in relationships are more likely than men in relationships to say they always, usually, or sometimes feel frustrated (63% vs. 46%) and resentful (33% vs. 22%).
Related:
- Which holidays do Americans enjoy most — and least?
- Most Americans like an average day at least as much as Valentine's Day
- Love, sex, and heartbreak: Commonalities in American relationship experiences
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on January 29 - February 1, 2026 among 1,114 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 percentage points.
Image: Getty (Image Source)
