When you consider and evaluate the men that go to college, the drop off in social activities and acquaintances does happen and it is happening at ages 22-24. For men that end their education at high school or maybe go to a 2 year trade school, that will happen at ages 18-20.
Yes, let's talk about that mid-20s small wall you identified. I went to college so that was first happening for me at 22-23.
In a mid-sized metro area (200,000+ population), navigating around that wall is quite easy. There are many ways to do it. Here are the common ways that men in their mid to late 20s do it. These men typically do one or more of the following things....
- Join a co-ed sports league
- Join a gym/fitness facility with a population of similarly aged unmarried women
- Live in an apartment community with similarly aged unmarried women, usually in a part of the metro area with the highest concentration of younger, unmarried people
- Go to bars that are commonly visited by unmarried women under 30.
Those obstacles for a man in his mid to late 20s are easier to beat. Now let's talk about a 35-40 year old childless man and his obstacles.
The 35-40 year old single male has fewer male friends, so he lacks options for having wingmen on bar visits. That makes going to the bars and doing approaches more difficult. Additionally, he may have more responsibilities at his job than when he was in his mid to late 20s, so being at a bar at 10:30 PM on Tuesday night becomes less realistic. He's still young enough to do co-ed sports leagues, but women are starting to see him as the "older guy", and that doesn't help.
@CornbreadFed just told a story of a 24 year old woman who rejected a good looking 33 year old man for being 33. That commonly happens, both in co-ed sports leagues and other venues. The 35-40 year old man might try to date women 30+ but then he either is dealing with childless careerists (often attitude problems) or single moms start to enter his dating pool. Things are worse if he's reliant upon swipe apps. In general, the dating pool gets narrower and more difficult to navigate for the 35-40 year old childless man, even if he does stay in better than average shape.