Some 11 percent of men and 14 percent of women ages 25 to 54 say they have cheated while married, a difference that is not statistically significant.

DOVER, DE, UNITED STATES, October 14, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Men and women in their prime working years now report marital infidelity at rates that cannot be statistically told apart, according to an Institute for Family Studies analysis of General Social Survey data. Among ever-married adults ages 25 to 54, 11 percent of men and 14 percent of women say they have cheated while married.

For decades, surveys found married men admitting to infidelity at higher rates than married women. "Men cheat more" hardened into common sense, and a widely cited 2018 Institute for Family Studies analysis put the figures at 20 percent of men and 13 percent of women among all ever-married adults. The August 2025 analysis by Wendy Wang, the institute's director of research, found that among prime-age adults, "men are no more likely than women to report infidelity."

The Numbers Behind the Shift
The two analyses cover different groups, so the older figure and the newer one should not be read as a straight before-and-after comparison:
11 percent of ever-married men and 14 percent of ever-married women ages 25 to 54 report cheating while married, a difference that is not statistically significant (Institute for Family Studies, 2025)

20 percent of men and 13 percent of women among ever-married adults of all ages reported infidelity in the earlier analysis (Institute for Family Studies, 2018)
Among ever-married adults ages 18 to 29 in that 2018 analysis, women were already slightly more likely than men to report infidelity, at 11 percent against 10 percent (Institute for Family Studies, 2018)

11 percent of married adults under 40 report currently using dating apps or websites (Institute for Family Studies and YouGov, 2025)
The 2018 analysis also showed where the old gap lived. Men reported the highest rate in their 70s, at 26 percent, while women peaked in their 60s at 16 percent, and the difference between the sexes was widest among adults 80 and older, at 18 percentage points.

Where a Difference Remains
The 2025 analysis did find one pattern that splits by gender. Men in high-prestige occupations, such as CEOs, physicians, and surgeons, were more likely than other men to report having cheated, at 18 percent compared with 7 percent of men in upper-middle prestige jobs and 13 percent of men in low-prestige jobs. The same pattern did not hold for women in similar positions.

What the Surveys Do Not Measure
The General Social Survey asks a narrow question, which is whether a person has had sex with someone other than their spouse while married. It does not count emotional affairs, secret online relationships, or an active dating profile, and that gray area is where much of the modern debate over what counts as cheating takes place.

Broader polling shows how much sits outside that question. In a YouGov survey cited by the Survey Center on American Life, one third of Americans reported having cheated on a partner or spouse, and roughly one in five of them said the cheating was exclusively emotional. Definitions also differ by gender, since 88 percent of women and 73 percent of men say kissing someone else counts as cheating.

Self-reports undercount, too. Respondents in one study were six times more likely to admit to an affair under complete anonymity, which means the self-reported infidelity figures above are best read as floors rather than exact rates.

Belief Runs Ahead of the Trend
Perceptions have moved further than the behavior that surveys track. In a February 2025 Survey Center on American Life analysis, 57 percent of young women and 44 percent of young men said infidelity is extremely or very common in American society, while the center noted that rates of extramarital sex have been relatively stable over the last couple of decades.

Personal experience is not rare either. In a 2023 Survey Center survey, 34 percent of men and 46 percent of women said a partner or spouse had cheated on them at some point.

A Question Without a Gendered Answer
With prime-age men and women now reporting infidelity at similar rates, the question of who cheats more no longer has a gendered answer.
"For decades the cultural script was a suspicious wife and a guilty husband, and the latest data show that script no longer fits. A search result is information, not proof, and its real value is helping someone move from silent doubt to an honest conversation."

CheaterScanner checks whether a partner has an active dating app profile. A profile can be old or mistaken; the absence of one is not proof of fidelity, and no search is exhaustive. The service is built for use within a person's own relationship and in compliance with applicable law, not for monitoring, harassing, or locating anyone.

About CheaterScanner AI
Founded in [YEAR] and based in [CITY, STATE], CheaterScanner AI is a dating app profile search service that helps people check whether a partner has an active profile on major dating platforms.

The company aims to help people move from uncertainty to an honest conversation by providing information instead of guesswork. CheaterScanner AI is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any third-party platform or social network.

Cheater Scanner
Cheater Scanner
+1 (800) 452-0804