Rascasse Audience Intelligence

Romance novels Audience in United States

A data profile of the people who buy, follow and care about Romance novels in United States — modelled from more than twelve digital signal sources. Romance novels has an estimated audience of 28,958,904 people in United States.

#7among Literary genre in United States#682among Topic in United States#20in Literature

The average Romance novels fan in United States is 43.4 years old, more female, and lives primarily in California.

The audience is concentrated in California, Texas, Florida.

Top brand affinities include New-adult fiction, Contemporary romance, Novel, with strongest over-indexing on New-adult fiction (6.59× the country average).

Demographically, the Romance novels audience skews more female with an average age of 43.4, and over-indexes on personality traits such as Spirituality, Creativity.

Compared to the country baseline, this audience shows distinctive patterns across 20 brand affinities and 50 regions tracked by Rascasse.

The typical Romance novels fan in United States is more female, around 43.4 years old, with strong Spirituality tendencies and a notable affinity for New-adult fiction.

Category: Literature · Type: Topic · Subtype: Literary genre

The data on this page comes from the Rascasse audience panel and is refreshed monthly from search, social and browsing signals. As of 2026-08-10.

Section 01

At a glance

The key figures that characterise the Romance novels profile in United States.

Audience size
29M
in United States
Gender
76.3%♀
23.7% male
Age
43.4
average years
Country rank
#989
Topic in United States
Fig. 01

Search interest · 12-month trend

-47%
vs. last year
JanMarMayJulSepNov
Monthly searches · Source: Rascasse Audience Intelligence
Section 02

Demographics of Romance novels fans

76.3% are female, 23.7% are male, average age 43.4.

Fig. 02

Gender split

76.3%
Female
23.7%
Male
Demographic split for Romance novels audience in United States
MetricValue
Female76.3%
Male23.7%
Average age43.4
Estimated audience size28,958,904
Fig. 03

Age distribution

Ø 43.4
average years
Age distribution of the Romance novels audience in United States
Age bracketShare%
16-1913%
20-2916%
30-3918%
40-4922%
50+31%
Fig. 04

Worldwide distribution

17.6%

of the worldwide Romance novels audience comes from United States.

Worldwide audience distribution share by country for Romance novels
CountryShare
United States17.6%
China4.9%
India4.5%
Section 03
Affinity (×) = how much more likely a member of this audience is to live in a region than the United States average. Example: 2.0× means twice as concentrated as the national baseline.

Geography

Where the Romance novels audience in United States is strongest.

Fig. 05

Top regions by affinity

Romance novels fans by region: top regions in United States
#RegionReachAffinity×
01Iowa~400K1.68×
02California~4.5M1.44×
03Massachusetts~700K1.23×
04Kentucky~400K1.18×
05Utah~300K1.15×
06Hawaii~100K1.13×
07Kansas~200K1.09×
08Idaho~200K1.08×
09Washington, District of Columbia~90K1.08×
10Washington~600K1.07×
11Oregon~400K1.07×
12Oklahoma~300K1.05×
13West Virginia~100K1.05×
14Minnesota~400K1.04×
15Montana~80K1.04×
16Nevada~300K1.03×
17Arkansas~200K1.03×
18Nebraska~100K1.03×
19Maine~100K1.03×
20New Hampshire~100K1.01×
21Missouri~500K1.00×
22Michigan~700K0.99×
23Tennessee~600K0.99×
24Indiana~500K0.99×
25South Dakota~70K0.99×
26North Dakota~60K0.99×
27Ohio~900K0.98×
28Virginia~700K0.98×
29Colorado~400K0.98×
30Vermont~50K0.97×
31North Carolina~800K0.95×
32Wisconsin~400K0.95×
33Connecticut~300K0.95×
34Alaska~60K0.95×
35Pennsylvania~900K0.94×
36Louisiana~400K0.94×
37Rhode Island~90K0.94×
38New York~1.5M0.91×
39New Jersey~700K0.91×
40South Carolina~400K0.90×
41Mississippi~200K0.90×
42Delaware~70K0.90×
43Texas~2M0.89×
44Illinois~900K0.89×
45Arizona~500K0.89×
46Georgia~800K0.88×
47Maryland~400K0.88×
48Alabama~400K0.87×
49New Mexico~100K0.83×
50Florida~1.5M0.79×
Fig. 06

Affinity by region

Affinity by region — Romance novels, United States
0.79×1.00×1.68×
Section 04
Brands and entities this audience over-indexes on, vs. the country average.

Audience interests & affinities

The strongest cross-interests of the Romance novels audience — brands, topics and people combined.

Fig. 07

Top cross-interests, ranked by affinity

Top brand affinities (over-index vs. country average) for Romance novels audience
#·InterestCategoryAffinity×
01New-adult fictionLiterature6.59×
02Paranormal romanceLiterature4.92×
03Contemporary romanceLiterature4.22×
04Women's fictionLiterature4.12×
05GoodreadsLiterature3.50×
06Web fictionLiterature3.28×
07Non-fiction booksLiterature3.27×
08E-book readersTechnology & Electronics3.23×
09NovelLiterature2.54×
10Creative writingBusiness & Career2.47×
11Barnes & NobleLiterature2.36×
12The Gilded AgeMovies & TV2.13×
13Romance (love)Beauty & Wellness2.10×
14Fiction booksLiterature1.82×
15Dick Van DykeMovies & TV1.80×
16Mystery fictionLiterature1.76×
17E-booksLiterature1.71×
18Harry PotterMovies & TV1.63×
19LiteratureBusiness & Career1.60×
20GrandparentKids & Family1.53×
Section 05
Top six personality traits over-indexed by this audience (1.0 = country average).

Personality of the Romance novels audience

Values above 1.00× are above the country average, values below 1.00× below it.

Fig. 08

Deviation from the national baseline

↑ What stands out
The strongest tendencies
Top personality traits over-indexed by Romance novels audience · What stands out
TraitClusterDeviationScore
SpiritualityBALANCE1.15×
CreativityOPEN1.15×
MindfulnessBALANCE1.12×
0×1.00× baseline2×
↓ Rather not
The weakest tendencies
Top personality traits over-indexed by Romance novels audience · Rather not
TraitClusterDeviationScore
Early Adopter MentalityPOWER0.78×
PatriotismCONSERVATISM0.80×
Luxury OrientationPREMIUM0.83×
0×1.00× baseline2×
Section 06

Frequently asked questions

01

How many fans does Romance novels have in United States?

Romance novels has an estimated audience of 28,958,904 people in United States, concentrated in California and Texas.

02

What is the gender split and age of Romance novels fans?

76.3% of Romance novels fans are female, 23.7% are male, with an average age of 43.4 years.

03

Which brands do Romance novels fans like most?

Romance novels fans show strongest brand affinity for New-adult fiction (6.59×), Contemporary romance (4.22×), and Novel (2.54×) over the country average.

04

Where do Romance novels fans live in United States?

Romance novels fans in United States are most concentrated in California (reach ~4.5M), Texas (reach ~2M), and Florida (reach ~1.5M). These three regions account for the largest share of the active audience.

05

What other brands do Romance novels fans also like?

Beyond Romance novels itself, the audience over-indexes on Contemporary romance (4.22×), Novel (2.54×), Non-fiction books (3.27×), and Harry Potter (1.63×) compared to the United States average.

Appendix

Explore more audiences

Related profiles, rankings and the same audience in other markets.

More Literary genre audiences in United States

See Romance novels audiences in other countries

How to read this data

Audience size is the estimated number of people in United States who actively search for Romance novels. Affinity is an over-index ratio: 2.0× means the audience is twice as likely to engage with that brand or trait as the country average. Reach is the estimated number of audience members in a region. Regional and brand-affinity tables are sorted from strongest signal to weakest.

About this audience profile

This audience profile is generated by Rascasse from anonymized search-behavior signals across United States. For methodology see methodology. Affinity values are over-index ratios vs. the country average (1.0 = baseline). Audience sizes are estimated, not measured.

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