This is true and disappointing. Yes, if you are a 35 year old male, you have a better chance of having an extended relationship with a 30-35 year old woman than an 18-24 year old.
Depends on where you are in your 30s. When you're 30-33, 25-29 is not a stretch. Plenty of 32 year old men have 28-29 year old girlfriends/wives.
Let's say you're a 33-34 year old single guy. How are you going to get with 21-24 year olds? If you're on swipe apps, you might be able to swipe right on them. You'll get into their swipe queues and they can judge that way. Most women's swipe queues are externally long, even when they are 35. Imagine what a 22 year old's swipe queue is like. This probably isn't the best way to get a 21-24 year old's attention. When they are randomly swiping, they are filtering out guys who are 31+ in most cases.
Pre-pandemic, the bars were likely a better option for this, especially if you happened to find bars near a college campus.
You could day game but you'd likely do approaches on women 25+ when doing non-bar approaching. Non-bar approaching is often weaker on quantity than a good bar situation.
There's a combination of too many older guys listening to the feminist societal influences and also not being good enough to attract women 10 years younger in their 30s. If you're in your 30s and want someone 10 years younger, the threshold for achieving that is high. This is why most 30 something men are with pusssy beggars for women close to their own age.
Most 35 year old men have an access problem when it comes to much younger women.
It's a bit unusual for a 35 year old man to do random on campus approaching. I did one approach session around that age one day on a college campus. Most 35 year old men are busy working at 1 or 2 PM Wednesday when women are walking between classes. Work at home options can help men do this as opposed to being confined to an office. When I did my college campus approach session one day in my mid-30s, I was between jobs. I wasn't unemployed, I had a built in break before starting a new job.
If I had wanted to get something out of campus approaching, I probably needed to do more than just one day. Most campus day approaching sessions don't resemble this...
Also, most men don't have the guts to do random approaching of strangers at non-bar venues. This is compounded for 30+ men who have graduated from school. These men aren't going to be on campuses hustling for prospects.
Elevated SMV in one's 30s is often an achievement of career promotions, often in white collar work. Blue collar men can also experience wage growth with experience.
White collar men often dislike their work experiences more than blue collar men. Being an automotive or aircraft mechanic seems more fulfilling than working an accounting, sales, or marketing related role.
Having a higher income in your 30s might get you easier lays from 30 something childless women seeking providers. How exciting is it to be 38 and getting lays from childless 35 year old women?
How up to date are these data points? Marriage rates in the Millennial generation have been lower.
A childless divorce barely affects a woman's SMV. How much different is a woman's SMV with a childless divorce vs. a bunch of 2-5 year non-marital relationships that have failed?