If you’ve been considering hiring a matchmaker in NYC, you probably have a lot of questions. Today, we’re going to look at what options you have, how they work with the NYC dating scene, and answer some of your more pressing questions, especially with so many options to choose from (here’s just a tiny snapshot).
Here’s a dose of reality. Dating in NYC is somehow simultaneously one of the most exciting and most frustrating things on the planet. In a city with over 8 million people (57% of which are single), you’d think finding one great person would be a breeze. Unfortunately, the city’s culture and fast-paced landscape (amongst a whole host of other issues) leads to a challenging landscape that has major news outlets calling it a ‘cutthroat dating scene’. Awesome.
And while we may have started off on a doom and gloom path today, that’s not where we’re going to end. There is hope.
Because of the challenges of dating in NYC, professional matchmakers and matchmaking services have moved into the city in droves to help.
If you’re brand new to all of this, make sure to start by reading our guide on what it’s like working with a professional matchmaker so you have the basics down. With that information, we’re going to expand and talk about the six things you need to know about when using a matchmaker in NYC.
And just in case you’re here looking for recommendations, we have that for you too. Click here to jump to our list of the best NYC matchmakers right now.
And with the housekeeping out of the way, let’s talk about the matchmaking industry in NYC.
1. NYC is home to over 130 matchmaking services.
Because of the size of NYC, the speed in which people operate (everyone is busy), and the overall priority of goals (career often outranks finding love), romance often takes a backseat. But just as companies in other industries have developed ways for you to reach your goals while saving time, professional matchmakers have swarmed NYC to do the same for those looking for love.
Just how many options do you have in the city? According to Yelp, there are 130 registered business that classify themselves as a matchmaking service.
If you search on the NYC Division of Corporations, you’ll find 41 companies that have ‘matchmaking’ in their name and 66 with ‘matchmaker’ (though some of these are for other industries).
Compared to other cities, this is a massively larger number. As you’ll see, though, not all of these providers are worth your time and investment.
2. You have access to local and national providers, and there are stark differences.
As we start to break down the available options, one of the biggest differences you’ll see are national matchmaking brands that service the NYC area and local matchmaking services that ONLY service the NYC area. Understanding the differences is key to choosing a provider.
The pros and cons of using a national brand.
Generally speaking, national brands have more resources to support their operation. This translates to more support staff, more efficient processes, and more features for you. Additionally, if you’re open to meeting someone who lives in a different city, you’ll have this option.
The drawbacks, though, are that sometimes a national brand may lack the individual touch and knowledge of the NYC dating scene. They may try and match you with someone who lives in a nearby borough “because it looks close on the map”, but it might as well be a different state because of traffic and travel. That said, the better national brands tend to hire local experts, especially in their bigger markets (and NYC is hands-down the largest market for professional matchmakers).
The pros and cons of using a localized matchmaker in NYC.
When you use a local matchmaker who only operates in the NYC area, you do get someone who knows the area well. Their pulse on the scene, understanding of what singles want, and knowledge of where to find the best matches (which is the bulk of their job), are usually very dialed in.
That said, quality within the local matchmaker community in New York is highly polarized. You have some providers who do a great job, and you have some that are nothing short of terrible.
Overall, we tend to think that national brands (the right ones) are a better fit for such a major market like NYC. You get the perks of the higher level of resources, but you also get the personal touch as most of these providers dedicate serious local assets to their biggest market.
3. These are the 4 best NYC matchmaking services to try.
Speaking of which matchmaker in NYC you should choose, we wanted to share the operations we believe to be the most trustworthy, reputable, and best fit for NYC singles.
Three Day Rule NYC – Best Overall Matchmaker in NYC
While Three Day Rule is technically a national brand, the company only provides service in 11 cities (including NYC), which makes it the perfect blend of powerful national resources and localized intimate touch. Pricing is transparent, memberships come with a ton of added perks, and their testimonials and track record of success are out of this world.
And the best part is that you can schedule a free consultation call to learn more. Use the link below to learn more about Three Day Rule in NYC and to get your free call scheduled.
Tawkify NYC – Best Secondary Option
According to Tawkify, they have thousands of relationship ready singles throughout the city with a heavy focus on New York City and Brooklyn. The company is a national brand, but they still clearly dedicate resources to the NYC area. Tawkify is headquartered in San Francisco, but the company was founded in New York in 2012.
We’d say that Tawkify NYC is probably not as localized of a national brand as Three Day Rule, but the company has a strong track record, which is why we rank it as the best secondary option in case Three Day rule isn’t ideal for you.
If you want to learn more about the company (and also see how to set up a free consultation), you can use the link below.
Agape Matchmaking – Best Local New York Option
When it comes to local options, Agape Matchmaking (located in One Liberty Plaza) is toward the top of most people’s lists for the best matchmaker in NYC. With 15 years of service, the company boasts a 93% success rate and mainly services the NYC metro area, with some clients in other cities. Now, the only qualm we have with that 93% stat is that they don’t tell you what they count as success. If it’s finding marriage, wow. If it’s getting you a date, meh, pretty misleading.
Agape is a small-team operation with only six employees, with only four of those doing matchmaking. Agape offers some additional services for purchase like dating coaching, photoshoots, and personal assessments.
We still think a national brand in a market like NYC is best, but if you really want a localized option, Agape is worth considering.
NYCity Matchmaking – Best Boutique Option
All jokes aside, size doesn’t always matter when it comes to matchmaking. NYCity Matchmaking is run by Michelle Frankel, and it looks like she handles the reigns predominantly by herself. While this could be a red flag depending on how many clients she has, it also could mean a deeply intimate experience as it as all intake calls are handled by Michelle personally.
The one thing we aren’t huge fans of with NYCity Matchmaking is that your initial consultation is not free, as it is with most national brands.
The company charges either $350 or $475 for the consultation (depending on online or in person). This is in addition to the fees to hire the company for matchmaking.
Most likely, this is because of the boutique size of the operation and to weed out anyone not serious about the process.
4. NYC’s culture makes it the prime candidate for professional matchmakers to thrive.
Generally, matchmaking services are designed for affluent individuals who tend to work in professional career fields (doctors, lawyers, investment bankers, executives, etc.). These individuals tend to have demanding schedules that limit their available time to troll bars or use traditional dating apps. And in most cases, they’re willing to pay a little extra for a professional to help them get the job done and achieve their goal.
If that last paragraph is not the perfect description of the workforce in NYC, we don’t know what is. As a quick disclaimer, if you’re not one of the professions we rattled off, you can still hire a matchmaking service (and a lot of people do).
The point we’re trying to make is that a larger percentage of the workforce in New York City matches up with the usual clientele that gravitates toward hiring a professional matchmaker.
Here’s the data to prove that.
- According to the ABA, there are 188,341 lawyers in New York which breaks down to 9.6 per 1,000 people (this is the most). And according to Press Connects, when you zero in on NYC specifically, that rate jumps to 42.1 lawyers per 1,000 residents (over 3x more than any other county or area in the state).
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 7,630 CEOs who live in New York. This is third highest behind California and Florida.
- In a study published by Statista, there are 51,639 specialty physicians who live in New York. 89% of these live in NYC.
We could go on and on, but you get the point. The makeup of professionals in the city means it’s a perfect area for matchmaking services to thrive. What this also means for you is that the high-quality matches available will also be higher, making for better odds of success.
5. Expect to see some heavily niched-down options throughout the five boroughs.
There’s a theme that runs throughout New York City that is certainly something that makes the city so attractive—diversity. While most matchmaking services handle clients from all over the diversity spectrum, there is something unique to the NYC matchmaking scene and that is niche-focused matchmakers.
While we don’t often recommend these options as they tend to have too small of matchmaking pools, we wanted to share them in case you wanted something highly specialized. Here are a few examples of the niche-focused matchmaking services available in NYC.
- Jewish Match NYC – Specializing in Jewish matchmaking within the city.
- Pious Hearts NYC – Focused on helping Arab-Americans meet someone in the city.
- BeSpoke Matchmaking – Designed to help LGBTQIA+ singles meet (also available in Toronto, San Fran, and LA)
6. Matchmakers are not an inexpensive option in an expensive city.
You may already be aware that hiring a one-on-one professional matchmaker is going to cost several thousand dollars. Yes, it’s not cheap. And when you live in a city where cost of living is literally the highest in the U.S. (Manhattan ranks #1 on any list you look at), that’s something that you need to consider.
Compared with the rest of the U.S., national matchmaking services generally cost the same in NYC as they do in other parts of the country. You don’t see any price increases just based on the area (which is awesome). With the local providers, though, prices can be higher, most likely to match the cost of living, especially with smaller boutique NYC matchmakers (and their staff) who live in the city. In fact, NYC was the first city we’ve seen a matchmaker charging for the initial consultation.
Again, this is another reason we tend to recommend a national provider who offers matchmaking services in NYC. If you want to see our favorites, make sure you check out our top recommendations for the city from earlier in the guide.