What Women Want in a Man: Every inch matters

First of all, get your mind out of the gutter. It's not about that.


Recent studies show that women prefer taller men. Duh. You don't need a researcher to tell you that!

But did you know that men can compensate for their shortness by padding their (not shoes but...) wallets? Women are willing to relax their height standards for a bigger bank account. That's probably not surprising either.

But exactly how much money makes up for each inch?

A study of 20,000 online daters by Gunter Hitsch and Ali Hortacsu of the University of Chicago and Dan Ariely of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that a 5-foot-8 man was just as successful in getting dates as a 6-footer if he made more money — precisely $146,000 a year more. For a 5-foot-2 man, the number was $277,000.

But short women have it good. A 5-foot-6 woman needs to make $59,000 more than a 5-foot-0 or 5-foot-2 woman to do as well. She’d need to make $50,000 more than a 5-foot-4 woman. Take that Elle McPherson! As a 5-foot-almost-5 woman I find this liberating. I'm definitely buying some trendy ballet flats now!

Overall, I find these studies to be depressing. They seem to confirm with to-the-cent accuracy that age-old truism: looks matter a lot. And therefore: life is unfair.

For more trade-offs, see nytimes.com/tierneylab.