When it comes to dating, earning less than $30,000 is a deal breaker, a new survey shows

• Baby boomers list "too low a salary" as one of their top three dating deal breakers.
• That number's $29,878 a year and lower, according to a Western & Southern Financial Group survey.

Dating just got a little more complicated for American singles — a new survey shows that making less than $30,000 a year is a deal breaker.

Specifically, people expect their partners to make more than $29,878 annually, according to Western & Southern Financial Group survey of 1,008 married Americans, published last Wednesday. This is lower than the median annual salary in the US in 2021 — which is about $37,522 — according to the US Census Bureau data.

Even though respondents said they were looking for a partner making at least that much, only Baby boomers listed "too low a salary" as one of their top three dating deal breakers. The top deal breaker for this generation was personal loans. Credit card debt and no investments vied for the third place.

Millennials listed credit card debt as the generation's top deal breaker, while irresponsible spending and personal loans came in the second and third place, respectively.

For Gen Z, the top deal breaker was a lack of financial literacy, while student loans and personal loans came in the second and third position, respectively.

Across the board, almost 30% of those surveyed said they wished they had talked about salaries sooner — but paychecks weren't the be-all and end-all.

While nearly 23% of those surveyed said "too low a salary" was a deal breaker — personal loans were the top turn off. 31.5% of respondents said it was a deal breaker, followed by credit card debt, lack of financial literacy, and irresponsible spending.

Looking at the results of the survey, the Western & Southern Financial Group urged couples to talk about finances sooner rather than later.

"Before getting married, couples didn't talk much about finances. But afterward, conversations around investments, joint checking and retirement savings started picking up steam," the group said in the survey report.

Although couples may feel they have lots of time to talk about finances after getting married, but "in reality, you might regret it if you wait too long to go over these things together," it added.