New BBH Study Shows DINKs as High-Spend Segment Marketers Rarely Target

America has fewer parents in 2025 than at any point in its history.

The fertility rate is also the lowest it’s ever been.

So low that the government is literally paying people to have kids with their new "Trump Accounts."

So low that the term "D.I.N.K.s," which stands for "dual income, no kids," is trending again for the first time since it became popular in the 1980s.

This is because there are now more DINKs in the U.S. than ever before, and they represent a segment with serious spending power.

They have tens of thousands of dollars more in disposable income annually than the average couple, to be exact.

To put it in the words of one of the DINKs we spoke to, "We have a little joke — we’re running out of month for the money!"

But while there’s a lot of research out there on the spending power of DINKs, we know very little about them.

And this is what we at BBH aim to address.

Underrepresented in Culture and Marketing

Where are they in films? On TV? And in ads?

They appear occasionally, but not at the same frequency as we observe them in society.

One DINK we spoke to felt that "it's just not a story that's told."

"I can't think of a story of a couple on TV that talks about not having kids and why they’re not having kids."

And marketers have yet to connect the dots.

There has been a lot of research done on their spending behavior, but very little on their actual culture.

Why? We're too preoccupied with generational research.

As an industry, we can't seem to help but default to talking about generational groups, and this is a gap we hope to fill.

The data work we've done at BBH has proven that generations are no more like-minded than seemingly trivial groupings, like daily nut eaters or crossword fans.

In reality, big lifestyle choices, like not having kids, say more about how we live and spend than the generation we belong to.

The Secret Lives of DINKs

We set out to understand the culture of DINKs because we want to help brands and marketing agencies better understand them.

The outcome? A deep ethnography study, validated by broader quant.

Here’s a taste of what we found:

1. 'D.I.N.K.s' might not be the best name.

"Dual income, no kids" suggests the choice to not have kids is primarily financial, but we learned it's about so much more than that.

It's about freedom, mental health, romance, the environment, and career aspirations.

2. They feel liberated from a cut-and-paste life.

We ran a values exercise with DINKs, and the one that came out at the bottom was "conventional."

We heard that once you reject one convention (having kids), others feel optional, too.

And the next thing you know, you feel freer to let your relationship take its own shape and create your own milestones in life.

3. They have created vast online communities, free of judgment.

40% of DINKs feel judged for their choice not to have kids, which is double the judgment non-DINK couples feel. 

In response to this, they create their own online communities to vent, share memes, "childfree flex," and connect locally.

There are tens of thousands of these groups on social media right now.

4. They feel free to be as productive as they please.

When you don't have kids, there's a little more space in life to be totally consumed by things.

But also to switch off and revel in the dying art of being unproductive.

Compared to others, DINKs are 50% more likely to spend ample time on their hobbies.

They’re also 10% more likely to enjoy the much-needed R&R that often feels out of reach for non-DINKs.

5. Home is not where the heart is.

DINKS are much less rooted to where they live, and they're more likely to see multiple different places as "home," to the point that 60% of them feel this way.

Emotionally, they are twice as likely to value globalism, seeing themselves more as part of the wider world than tied to a single nation, city, or town.

These insights are just scratching the surface.

Our insight website goes deep on all things DINKs, their culture, and their spending habits to help marketers understand this lucrative group better.

About the 'Silent Spenders' Research Project

This study is part of "The Silent Spenders," a research project created by BBH.

We believe that how you choose to live your life is a greater indicator of your spending power than your age.

It’s a deep ethnographic research backed by broader quant.

The study looks at consumer groups with high spending power that are highly relevant to marketers but still largely overlooked by the industry.

Growth depends on understanding audiences beyond demographics. Like BBH, these market research firms uncover insights that reveal true spending power.