A dozen final roses: ‘The Bachelor’ by the numbers

An exploration of the last 12 years of America's favorite reality dating series.
Streaming
3 mins
A rose and numbers.

The Bachelor starts its 26th season this week but is showing no signs of slowing down, with its cult following running strong since the show began in 2002.

From season to season, Bachelor fans obsess over which contestant will earn herself that final coveted rose and, in some cases, a proposal. We’ve taken a look at the more recent years of The Bachelor, analyzing the past 12 seasons on everything from the traits of the contestants to the cliches that seem to reappear in each new season. 

The image of an eligible Bachelor—and the women who try to win his heart  

Ever wonder what an “ideal” bachelor and Bachelor contestant might look like? Here is a composite image of bachelors of the past 12 years, as well as a composite image of each season’s winner.

Bachelor and winner composite images.

Minorities have been underrepresented on The Bachelor, but that’s beginning to change. The past 12 seasons have averaged 20% people of color, with none in 2011 and 63% in the most recent season.

Line graph of percentage of Bachelor contestants who are people of color.

Top professions of Bachelor contestants (2010-2021)

Bachelor contestants have included attorneys, a mortician, and a Radio City Rockette, but these are the most common professions among contestants over the past 12 seasons.

  1. Teacher
  2. Realtor
  3. Nurse
  4. Model
  5. Student

Dating cliches on The Bachelor

Did she think they “had a connection”? Has he “never felt like this before”? Do these phrases seem to be uttered on The Bachelor a lot more than in real life?

Here are some of the most frequently used phrases on The Bachelor over the past 12 years.

Speech bubbles with Bachelor quotes.

 

In movies and TV shows, heterosexual couples often have notably wide age gaps, with men significantly older than their love interests. What about on The Bachelor?

Unsurprisingly, the men are older than the women on the show, with a 4.8-year difference on average. For comparison, the average age difference is 2.3 years among married heterosexual couples in the U.S. where the man is older.

Bar graph showing age difference on The Bachelor.

Where are the biggest Bachelor fans? 

Bachelor fans are all over the country, but the fans that are most invested in the series tend to live in the middle of the U.S. and in less populated states.

We compared Bachelor fandom in 50 states plus Washington DC, as measured by the volume of Google searches related to The Bachelor over the past 12 years relative to population size. In the heat map below, the darker the color, the higher the search volume.

Heat map of U.S. states with most Bachelor fans.

Full ranking of states (plus Washington DC) by volume of Google searches related to The Bachelor, relative to population size

1. Minnesota14. Missouri27. Arizona40. South Carolina
2. Utah15. Illinois28. Washington DC41. Texas
3. Iowa16. New Hampshire29. Vermont42. Georgia
4. Wisconsin17. Alabama30. Oklahoma43. Hawaii
5. Nebraska18. Montana31. Kentucky44. Virginia
6. South Dakota19. Indiana32. Delaware45. Maryland
7. Idaho20. Michigan33. North Carolina46. Florida
8. Massachusetts21. Connecticut34. Mississippi47. Wyoming
9. Maine22. Tennessee35. Rhode Island48. West Virginia
10. Colorado23. Pennsylvania36. California49. Nevada
11. North Dakota24. Arkansas37. New Jersey50. New Mexico
12. Washington25. Kansas38. New York51. Alaska
13. Oregon26. Ohio39. Louisiana

It’s a (short-lived) match!

After all the roses, the tears, and, often, the rings, the chances of happily ever after are still slim. In the past 12 seasons, only one couple that met on The Bachelor ended up getting married.

3 months, 16 days

The average length of a Bachelor relationship after the season ends

Here’s a look at how the resulting relationships fared over the past 12 seasons:

SeasonCoupleRelationship statusLength of relationship
14Jake & ViennaBroken up3 months, 21 days
15Brad & EmilyBroken up3 months, 15 days
16Ben & CourtneyBroken up6 months, 23 days
17Sean & CatherineMarriedOngoing since March 11, 2013
18Juan & NikkiBroken up7 months, 18 days
19Chris & WhitneyBroken up2 months, 19 days
20Ben & LaurenBroken up2 months, 1 day
21Nick & VanessaBroken up5 months, 12 days
22Arie & BeccaBroken up1 day
23Colton & CassieBroken up2 months, 17 days
24Peter & HannahBroken up1 day
25Matt & RachaelDatingOngoing since March 15, 2021

Can’t get enough of The Bachelor? Find out how to stream the new season—and don’t forget to stream with privacy and security with a VPN!

Phone protected by ExpressVPN.
Protect your privacy with the best VPN

30-day money-back guarantee

A phone with a padlock.
Enjoy a safer online experience with powerful privacy protection
What is a VPN?
ExpressVPN is dedicated to your online security and privacy. Posts from this account will focus on company news or significant privacy and security stories.