Study says higher income level draws more attention in online dating

As John Lennon once said, "all you need is love." But to get love, you're going to have to make more than $150,000 a year, so try and lock down your finances first, yeah?

According to a new study of some 1.5 million interactions at dating site AYI.com, we all—men and women alike—are nothing but gold diggers and sugar babies looking for a person-shaped ticket to financial bliss. Though, to be fair, it's not as if anyone is coming out and saying it, per se.

The truth, of course, comes out in the data. For example, researchers found that as a man's income increases, so too does his chance of being contacted by a woman. So much so that when that income level hits $150,000 or more a year, a man's chances if being contacted by a woman are 82 percent more likely than that of a man listing his annual take at $20,000 or less.

Women, however, are in a similar boat, with a fair amount of men in online dating apparently looking for a sugar mama. For a woman listing her income above $150,000, receiving a message from a man is 65 percent more likely than if she listed that income at $20,000 or below. Perhaps all those $20,000-a-year guys are just trying to date up.

So, unfortunately, it looks like Kanye West was right. I hate it when that happens.