Women are struggling to find men who make as much money as they do

A good man is hard to find, especially in this economy.

The country is facing a crisis of broke dudes, according to new research from Cornell University — and it’s left successful ladies single and disgruntled.

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In the study, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, Cornell sociologists explored America’s declining marriage rate. They discovered a lack of financially eligible bachelors.

“There are shortages of economically attractive men,” lead study author Daniel T. Lichter tells The Post. Although we like to think marriage is based on love, he says, it “also is fundamentally an economic transaction,” and women want partners whom they can call their equals.

Lichter, who has been studying marriage for 30 years, says the gig economy and a “lack of good jobs” have contributed to the dearth of well-to-do dudes. So has the fact that women are outpacing men educationally, upending the age-old dominance of the male breadwinner over the past five to 10 years.

“Now it’s the case that more highly educated women are marrying down,” says Lichter. “Men have to get with the program.”

Single New Yorker Gina Thibodeaux has some theories of her own about the fella famine.

“I find generally that dudes these days just do less across the board,” says the nurse practitioner. “Their parents have coddled them and taken care of them, and they just don’t go out there and make more money.”

The 38-year-old Upper East Sider stresses that she’s not looking for “anything outrageous” — “safety and security, as far as finances go” — but she’s still coming up empty on dates.

She says it’s because the men she goes out with don’t feel the innate “push” to succeed that she does.

“I think for years they’ve always just taken their role in society for granted, and I think that they’re just getting lazy culturally,” she says.

Morgan Jordan, a staff administrator at a South Carolina college, says she’s also struggling to find a partner on her level.

“I don’t even consider myself all that successful. I just make a living wage and I’m comfortable,” says the 32-year-old, who lives in upstate South Carolina and recently paid off her student loans.

But the majority of guys she meets can’t say the same.

“Most men that I encounter, they’re really underemployed and they can’t seem to make a living themselves,” she says, adding that many are “wildly in debt” and intimidated by her stability.

“You can tell that some men really want to be the more traditional breadwinner,” says Jordan.

Boston single Jake Rivas gets where they’re coming from.

“My prospective partner’s income is something I consider,” says the 28-year-old, who works as a staff caregiver at a group home. “Being on the lower end [myself] only serves to feed insecurity.”

Graduate student Isaac Suárez says he’s not turned off by a woman who means business — but he has found that his relationships tend to last longer when he makes a similar amount as his partner.

“I have dated women with money . . . [and] full-time professional women tend to be busier, and it’s more difficult to find time to spend together,” says the 26-year-old, who lives in Portland, Ore.

Thibodeaux says she knows it’s “not necessarily [a guy’s] fault” if he’s struggling financially. Still, given the circumstances, she’s had to devise a Plan B for her future: If Mr. Right doesn’t come along soon, she may just shack up with some lady friends at her professional level.

“Maybe in a few years we’ll move in together,” she says. “They’re successful, and I like them.”