Male attractiveness scale: we measured it on 15,074 men
We measured the male attractiveness scale on 15,074 men rated by 19,628 women. Half are rated below 4.7/10, and a 6/10 puts you in the top 10%.
By The Photoeval teamPublished 5 min readBased on 763,000 ratings
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On the male attractiveness scale, people rate how attractive a man looks from 1 to 10. It comes up all the time ("he's a solid 7"), and most people assume that 5 is the average man. We wanted to see what the scale looks like with real ratings instead of guesses.
So we looked at the photos of 15,074 men, rated by 19,628 women on Photoeval between 2021 and 2026. In short, women rate men far lower than people assume. Half of men are rated below 4.7, and a 6 is enough to be in the top 10%.
What is the male attractiveness scale?
It's an informal rating, from 1 (least attractive) to 10 (most attractive). There is no official version. It lives in conversations, dating forums and social media.
The usual assumption is that 5 is the average man, and that ratings spread out evenly on both sides of it, with as many 3s as 7s. Ratings from real women tell a different story.
Where do men really rank on the scale?
When women rate men's photos, most are rated between 4 and 6. Very few are rated below 3, and none reached 9.
- 1 to 1.9
- 0.0%
- 2 to 2.9
- 1.7%
- 3 to 3.9
- 19.6%
- 4 to 4.9
- 41.6%
- 5 to 5.9
- 27.9%
- 6 to 6.9
- 7.9%
- 7 to 7.9
- 1.1%
- 8 to 8.9
- 0.1%
- 9 to 10
- 0.0%
Share of men in each score range, from their average rating by women. 15,074 men, one photo each, each rated by at least 20 women. Photoeval rated from 1 to 5 at the time, converted here to 1 to 10 (3 becomes 5.5, the middle). Photoeval, 2021 to 2026.
Here is what each score actually means:
| Your photo is rated | Men rated this high or higher | So you are in |
|---|---|---|
| 4.7/10 | 50% | the top half |
| 5/10 | 37% | the top 37% |
| 6/10 | 9% | the top 10% |
| 7/10 | 1.2% | about the top 1% |
| 8/10 | 0.1% | the top 0.1% (1 man in 1,000) |
Average rating by women, out of 10. Same 15,074 men.
In other words, a man rated 6/10 is rated higher than 9 men out of 10, far more than "a bit above average". And the top of the scale is almost empty: only 1 man in 1,000 reaches 8, and nobody reached 9.
Why are most men rated so low?
Partly because women use the lowest rating a lot.
An average smooths everything out. A man who gets some top ratings and some bottom ratings ends up in the middle. To be rated 7/10 on average, a man needs most women to rate him highly, and that almost never happens.
This isn't specific to our site. In 2009, the dating site OkCupid reported that women rated 80% of men as worse-looking than average. In our data, 80% of men are rated below the middle of the scale (5.5). Same figure, more than a decade later. Men rate women very differently: see the female attractiveness scale.
Remember, this is one photo seen for a few seconds, with no voice or conversation. It's a harsh test, and it's exactly the one dating apps put you through.
Does the age of the woman rating you matter?
Yes, clearly. The same man is rated differently depending on who looks at his photo.
Young women are the toughest. Women aged 18 to 22 rate men 4.3 out of 10 on average. Women aged 23 and over rate them between 4.7 and 4.8.
Women under 30 also prefer men close to their own age. In the first row of the grid below, women aged 18 to 22 rate men their own age 5.0, and men 40 and over only 3.9.
| Her age ↓ / His age → | 18–22 | 23–29 | 30–39 | 40+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18–22 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 3.9 |
| 23–29 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 4.2 |
| 30–39 | 4.3 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.3 |
| 40+ | 5.1 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.2 |
Average rating, out of 10. The darker the cell, the higher the rating. 763,000 ratings of the same 15,074 men (one photo each, rated by at least 20 women), women and men aged 18 or over.
Women 40 and over are the most generous. They rate every age group above 5, and men in their thirties the highest (5.4).
So your rating is not one fixed number. On a dating app, it depends on who sees your profile.
Does a man's age change how he's rated?
Slowly, and mostly after 35. From 20 to 31, men are rated about the same, between 4.8 and 5.0. After that, they drift down: about 4.6 in the late thirties, 4.4 in the early forties, and 4.2 at 50 and over.
Average rating by women, out of 10. Shaded: 95% confidence interval.
By the age the man declared. 15,074 men, one photo each, each rated by at least 20 women.
Part of this drop may come from who is rating: many raters are young, and young women rate older men lowest.
Do women agree on who is attractive?
Much less than the averages suggest.
Almost every man is someone's top rating and someone else's lowest. On a dating app, you don't need everyone to like your photo. You need the right people to.
So what is your attractiveness scale?
If women rate your photo 5/10, you're already above most men. At 6/10, you're in the top 10%.
The only way to know is to have your photo rated by people who don't know you. Photoeval's free rate my photo test does exactly that: real people of the gender you choose rate your photo, and you see where it ranks.
These are ratings of a single photo, not of people met in real life. Photoeval's users are younger than the general population (half of the men are 28 or younger), and the largest groups come from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
