What Percent Impact Does Race Have on Attractiveness?

Race is a touchy subject in dating and attraction. How much does it really impact your desirability? Anywhere from +19% to -30%, it turns out.

We’ve talked about race off and on at Girls Chase. My usual advice is to not worry about it too much, because you can’t change it; there are so many attraction factors you can focus on that it’s effectively not that relevant most of the time. And if you get your fundamentals tight enough, you transcend race (or negative racial effects become bonuses – “Oh! I didn’t know X race guys could be like him!”).

William talked about race here: “Everything I Know About Race and Dating Girls”, and Jerome discussed it (with a few thoughts by me) here: “Asian Guys and White Girls: The Secret to Success.” And I called out guys who focus on race (or other subjects) to the exclusion of all else here: “I Can’t Get Girls Because Girls Only Want [BLANK].”

At the risk of opening up a can of worms (i.e., the “my race has a negative impact, therefore I shouldn’t even try” worm can), I’d like to look at some of the actual data on racial preferences... As well as how these change with time.

Racial Preferences are Not Static

OkCupid pulled actual data on which types of people go for which other types of people, and here’s what they found.

Racial Preferences in 2009

For a baseline, let’s take a look at what races preferred which in 2009. Here’s what men preferred in their women then:

These numbers are plusses or minuses over average. So on average, if you were a white male in 2009, you’d have given a girl +10% attractiveness if she was white, +6% attractiveness if she was Asian, +2% attractiveness if she was Latin, and -18% attractiveness if she was black.

Here were the preferences of women for men back in 2009:

We can see some interesting nuance here. In every race except Asians (where they’re tied), women prefer their men more than men prefer their women:

• Asian: men are +10% in-race to women’s +11%
  
• Black: men are +16% in-race to women’s -3%
• Latin: men are +11% in-race to women’s +6%
• White: men are +17% in-race to women’s +10%
  

Also, for every type of man, his best shot is with women of his own race. The only exception in 2009 is white men, who had it about even between white women (who gave them a +17% attractiveness boost for being white) and Asian women (who gave them +16%).

Racial Preferences in 2014

Next, let’s see what racial preferences looked like in 2014.

Then after that, we’ll see how much these changed in just five years’ time... And exactly what that means.

Here’s what men preferred in their women in 2014:

We see the racial fault lines shifting quite a bit here (but we’ll talk about that more in a moment). For now, if you were a white male in 2014, your racial preferences (on average) would’ve been +18% attractiveness to Asian girls, +6% attractiveness to Latinas, +5% attractiveness to white girls, and -30% attractiveness to black girls.

In contrast to women’s preference for their own races,

• Asian men still prefer Asian women most... But Latinas are very close
• Black men prefer Latinas and Asian girls over black girls by a huge 20%
  
• Latin men like Asian women a little bit more than Latinas
• White men have a large +13% preference for Asian girls over white girls
  

2014 shook up the rankings for men as well:

There’s not enough data on Asian women’s ratings of Asian men in 2014. But as for the other three races, women continue to prefer men of their own race most:

• Black: men are +13% in-race to women’s -9%
• Latin: men are +14% in-race to women’s +10%
• White: men are +19% in-race to women’s +5%
  

And, same as in 2009, a man’s best shot in 2014 is with women of his own race. In fact, this was even more extreme in 2014 than it was in 2009:

• Black men do best with black women (+13%). Next closest is Latinas (-9%).
• Latinos do best with Latinas (+14%). Next closest is Asians (+9%).
• White men do best with white girls (+19%). Next closest is Asians (+13%).
• And Asian men almost certainly still do best with Asian girls, too.
  

Now let’s look at what changed.

What Changed Between 2009 and 2014?

In just five years, we see some major shifts in racial preferences among both men and women.

Here’re the big ways men’s preferences changed:

• Asian men prefer Asian women as much in 2014 as in 2009 (+11% attractiveness). The big news with Asian men is the surge in interest in Latinas: from -1% in 2009 (right about average attractiveness) to Latinas being +9% attractive in 2014. But they’ve lost some interest in white women (+7% in 2009 to +4% in 2014) and dislike black women even more (from -16% in 2009 to -24% in 2014).

• Black men swung from no real preference in 2009 (all women were between +3% and -3% attractiveness – every girl was ‘about average’ for black men then) to stronger preferences in 2014. Asian and Latin women are more attractive to black men in 2014, at +7% and +9% attractiveness respectively, while black and white women have both become less attractive (-9% attractiveness for black women, -7% attractiveness for white women).

• Latin men have mostly just strengthened in their tastes between 2009 and 2014, liking Asian women and Latin women more and liking black women less. The one exception is white women, whom they gave a +9% to in 2009 but slid down to a +6% in 2014.

• White men experienced the most dramatic preference shift of all types of men. They went from “Meh, Asian girls are okay” (+6%) in 2009 to “Goddamn, Asians are hot!” (+18%) in 2014. Black girls took a big hit (from -18% to -30%) over those five years. Latinas gained slightly (from +2% to +6%). And white girls slid from white guys’ first choice (at +10% in 2009) to their third (at +5% in 2014).
  

Overall, in 2009, the most desired female was white, second most was Asian, third most was Latin, and in a somewhat distant fourth place were black women. In 2014, Asian women took the crown with the biggest plusses to attraction for girls of any race in 2009 or 2014. Latinas come in a strong second, while white girls became less attractive to all four races of men and slipped down to third. Black women suffered even heavier losses in attractiveness to all men except black men, and slid deeper into last place.

In 2009, Latinas were the closest to ‘average’ attractiveness, while white girls were the prize, and Asian girls were somewhere in the middle. In 2014, white girls were the closest to ‘average’ attractiveness, while Asian girls were the prize and Latinas were in between (but still strong).

What about men? If you’re a guy reading this site, how’ve the last five years affected your attractiveness... Plus or minus?

Between 2009 and 2014, black women went from disliking Asian men (-11%) to liking them (+5%).

Here’s how:

• Asian men experienced an uptick. They went from negative attractiveness (-11%) among black women to positive (+5%), and improved in attractiveness to both Latin and white women (though still have a negative attractiveness rating of -11% and -8% respectively). There was insufficient data on Asian women’s ratings of Asian men in 2014 to see how this changed.

• Black men suffered among every demographic, and the five years between 2009 and 2014 were not kind to them. Latinas went from giving them a -4% to giving them a -9%; white girls went from giving them a -6% to giving them a -16%; and Asian girls went from giving them a -14% to giving them a -21%. Even black girls downgraded their rating slightly from +16% for black men, to +13% to black men. Across the board, black men were less attractive in 2014 than they were in 2009.

• Latin men saw improvement among every demographic except black women. They went from 1% (right on ‘average’) for white girls in 2009 to +4% for white girls. Latinas improved their rating of Latinos from +11% to +14%. The biggest swing came among Asian girls, who rated Latin men a painful -12% in 2009, but a pleasant +9% in 2014. Black women reduced their ratings of Latin men slightly between 2009 and 2014, from -4% to -6%.

• White men saw their ratings slightly improve with white women (+17% in 2009 to +19% in 2014), but decline with everyone else. While Latinas gave them a +10% in 2009, they only gave white men a +7% in 2014. And Asian girls reduced their exuberant 2009 +16% to a somewhat calmer 2014 +13%. Black girls soured on white men, going from 0% (average) in 2009 to -12% in 2014.
  

So, at least between 2009 and 2014, we saw Latin and Asian men improve their lots, while black and white men lost ground. White and Latin men both improved their ratings within their own race, while Latinas improved theirs too yet white girls saw theirs slide.

Some interesting differences between the races and sexes:

• Asian men and Asian women prefer each other at similar levels. However, Asian women like white men slightly more than they like Asian men.

• Black women strongly prefer black men. But black women are black men’s least favorite demographic, preferring anyone other than black women. However, black men are in turn the other demographic’s least preferred demographic themselves.

• Latin men and women prefer each other at similar levels. Latinas like Latinos somewhat more. Latinos slightly prefer Asian women over Latin women.

• White men and white women used to prefer each other most, in 2009. Though even then, white women preferred white men at nearly double the rate white men preferred them. By 2014, white women preferred white men even more, but white men no longer preferred white women. Instead, they strongly prefer Asian women (who also prefer them most), with preferences for Latinas and white women roughly tied at somewhat above average. Latina women prefer white men (+7%) about as much as white men prefer Latinas (+6%).
  

The matched combos in 2014 were white men and Asian women, with Latin men and women taking second place. Blacks lost ground in 2014 compared to 2009, while Asian men made ground up (along with Latin men).

How Significant are These Results?

All right. Now let’s talk significance.

If you go on anecdote, anecdotes are all over the map. You’ll have the guys who’ll tell you, “Look, I’m X race, and I can tell you race does not matter,” and you’ll have the guys who’ll tell you, “All I ever see are X guys with Y girls. Y girls don’t want a Z guy like me.” So anecdote’s not as helpful here.

First off, remember we’re talking about online dating, not meeting people in the real world. So these numbers may not match up. The effects could be stronger than what you’d see in the real world or they could be weaker. Without the data, we don’t know, and what one guys sees (e.g., you’re an Indian guy and white girls love you... versus you’re an Indian guy and white girls won’t look at you) is often going to be different from what the average guy sees.

Second off, remember what we talked about in the beginning, and that was that there are thousands of different attraction factors. Being physically dominant with women gives you a roughly +10% attractiveness boost. I haven’t seen numbers on it, but I suspect ‘confidence’ (that ephemeral but oh-so-wonderful quality), if you have it in spades, may well give you a +25% attractiveness boost. These are just two qualities. So keep race impacts in perspective.

Girls love the cool guy, regardless of race.

Another thing to keep in mind is how much variation there is here. Crazy how much some of these figures shifted in just a couple of years, right? You can see similar effects within cities, regions, countries, where various things come into and out of popularity.

Race is one of them; if you’re an Asian guy on the U.S. West Coast, you’re probably a lot more popular than an Asian guy in the U.S. Deep South. But that doesn’t preclude there being a trend at some point where Deep South girls suddenly decide Asian guys are really hot for whatever reason, even if it doesn’t exist just yet. You see this in other countries, like when black men became super popular in Japan after rap music first hit the air waves there in a big way. Or when North African men became popular in Scandinavia as the ‘exotic’ option. Or when Korean men became the rage across Asia and Oceania because Korean dramas with sexy Korean men got a lot of airplay in this region.

There are plenty of other things besides race that see this attractiveness popularity surge as well, like muscles, accents, fashion styles, hairstyles, etc. For instance, sometimes facial hair is more attractive, while other times it is less attractive (and it mostly has to do with the marriage market).

One final aspect I’d point you out toward is that much of the race difference may have to do with behavior rather than appearance. Men of different races quite frankly behave in different ways that are often more or less attractive to women, both of their race and other races.

Black men are usually very aggressive. Black women like very aggressive men, while most other types of women do not. Black women rank black men highly, while most other races don’t, and I’d be happy to wager a big part of this is because black women like black men’s approach style while other women aren’t as fond to it. Asian men are often timid, which isn’t as attractive to a lot of other types of women.

As I’ve noted on here before, when you break racial stereotypes, you often see a large attraction boost. The black guy who’s toned down his overt aggressiveness, dresses in a stylish way, and uses lots of white people humor cleans up with white and other types of girls. The Asian man who comes across as confident, cocky, and bold attracts women across the racial spectrum.

What Should You Do with These Results?

Take these mostly as a curiosity. Results like these are something to be aware of, but not something to stress out over (since you should focus on what you can change, not on what you can’t).

If you find yourself in a locale where you think your race is hurting you, change locales. You can always come back later when trends in your area shift again.

I’ve noticed in the dating advice community there are really only two approaches to race issues:

1. Don’t talk about this and pretend race differences don’t exist; or

2. Magnify the heck out of it and make race the ONLY issue that matters

Both are extremist positions that minimize or magnify the issue out of proportion.

Racial preferences exist, they impact your attractiveness to various extents, but they’re also just one slice of the attraction pie.

Also remember that preferences vary by the individual. Just like you may be an Asian guy who only likes Asian girls, you likely know a few Asian guys who love white girls. Or Latinas. Maybe you know an Asian guy whose thing is black girls.

Same deal with girls. Those numbers from OkTrends are averages, not a net total for all girls of that race. You don’t get an automatic -9% from Latinas if you are black. Rather, for some Latinas you’ll be average (0%). For some Latinas you may even be preferred (+10%?). While for other Latinas, you’re in a deep hole from the get-go (-30%?). All in all, this averages out to -9% for black guys with Latin girls... But that’s tallying up the girls who like black guys, the ones who don’t, and the ones who don’t much care.

So: do be aware of these preferences.

Be aware they change over time, between regions, and between individuals.

Finally, remember that if you have a problem with race, odds are your biggest problem is behavior: acting in a way your race typically acts that girls of other races don’t like as much. If your aim is to date girls of another race, start working to hang out mostly with people of that race and learn better how to move in those circles.

If you’re a white guy who likes black girls, you’re their least favored demographic (-12%). That doesn’t mean you can’t get black girls, as you doubtless realize if you’re out there and dating the girls you want. It just means you have more work to do in the game and fundamentals departments. You may need to be more cocky, aggressive, and dominating, more like average black guy game than average white guy game.

If you react to this article either with victim mentality (“See? Women of X race would never date me!”) or cognitive dissonance (“No way! This can’t be true! Race doesn’t matter at all!”) you missed the point. The point was not to make race the central thing; just to show it does matter, but probably no more than other qualities like confidence and dominance (and in many cases, like white women and Latino men, it matters quite a bit less than these).

So, if you want girls you’ve got a negative race rating with, get to work overcoming that -5% or -10%.

And even if you’ve got a positive race rating with the girls you want... Still get to work. +5% or +10% doesn’t put her in your bed by itself. It just wedges your foot a little more easily in the door.

Always,
Chase Amante