Household chore statistics show how Americans divide time among cleaning, cooking, laundry, management, maintenance and outdoor care. The figures below use U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey measures, with annual averages for 2024 or 2025 and clear distinctions between population averages, participation rates and hourly snapshots.
Key Household Chore Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2025, U.S. people age 15 and over spent 1.99 hours per day on household activities on average.
- In 2025, U.S. men age 15 and over spent 1.58 hours per day on household activities on average.
- In 2025, U.S. women age 15 and over spent 2.38 hours per day on household activities on average.
- In 2025, food preparation and cleanup accounted for 0.71 hours per day for the U.S. population age 15 and over.
- In 2025, interior cleaning averaged 0.33 hours per day for U.S. people age 15 and over.
- In 2025, laundry averaged 0.17 hours per day for U.S. people age 15 and over.
- In 2025, 80.4% of the U.S. population engaged in household activities on an average day.
- In 2024, 37.0% of the U.S. population participated in housework on an average day.
- In 2024, 63.1% of the U.S. population participated in food preparation and cleanup on an average day.
- In 2024, people who did housework averaged 1.68 hours on the activity day.
- In 2025, people ages 15 to 19 spent 43 minutes per day on household activities on average.
- In 2025, people age 65 and over spent 2.7 hours per day on household activities on average.
- In 2025, nonemployed adults living with children under 18 spent 3.1 hours per day on household activities.
- In 2025, employed adults living with children under 18 spent 1.7 hours per day on household activities.
- In 2025, housework participation was 40% on weekend days and 35% on weekdays.
- In 2025, 16.8% of the U.S. population was engaged in household activities at 6 p.m.
- In 2025, food preparation and cleanup participation reached 9.6% at 6 p.m. among the listed hourly observations.
- In 2025, housework participation at noon was 4.8% of the U.S. population age 15 and over.
Contents
- Household chore time-use statistics
- Cleaning and laundry statistics by sex
- Cooking, food cleanup and housework participation
- Household chores by age and family status
- Weekday, weekend and hourly chore patterns
- Management, maintenance and outdoor chore data
Household Chore Time-Use Statistics
The BLS chart “Average hours per day spent in selected household activities” reports 2025 annual-average diary measures for the U.S. civilian population age 15 and over. Its broad household-activities category includes more than cleaning alone, so it should not be read as a vacuuming or housework total.
| Household activity, U.S. age 15+ | Average hours per day, 2025 |
|---|---|
| All household activities | 1.99 |
| Food preparation and cleanup | 0.71 |
| Interior cleaning | 0.33 |
| Lawn and garden care | 0.19 |
| Laundry | 0.17 |
| Household management | 0.17 |
| Interior maintenance, repair and decoration | 0.06 |
| Exterior maintenance, repair and decoration | 0.05 |
Source: Average hours per day spent in selected household activities. BLS ATUS averages come from one-day time diaries, and population averages include people who did not report the activity on the diary day.
By sex, the 2025 household-activities average was 1.58 hours per day for U.S. men age 15 and over and 2.38 hours for U.S. women age 15 and over. These are population averages rather than time spent only by people who performed a chore.
Household Cleaning and Laundry Statistics by Sex
The same 2025 BLS household-activity data provides a more specific view of cleaning, laundry, food work and maintenance. The sex comparisons below use the same U.S. age-15-and-over population and the same hours-per-day unit.
| Activity | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Interior cleaning | 0.20 hours/day | 0.45 hours/day |
| Laundry | 0.07 hours/day | 0.26 hours/day |
| Food preparation and cleanup | 0.51 hours/day | 0.91 hours/day |
| Household management | 0.12 hours/day | 0.22 hours/day |
| Lawn and garden care | 0.26 hours/day | 0.13 hours/day |
| Interior maintenance, repair and decoration | 0.07 hours/day | 0.05 hours/day |
| Exterior maintenance, repair and decoration | 0.08 hours/day | 0.03 hours/day |
Source: Average hours per day spent in selected household activities. Household management includes management tasks rather than only physical chores, while lawn and garden averages include people without a lawn or garden.
The cleaning and laundry figures are especially important for interpretation: a daily average of 0.17 hours for laundry includes people who did not report laundry on their diary day. It is therefore a population-level time-use measure, not the duration of a typical laundry session.
Cooking, Food Cleanup and Housework Participation Statistics
The BLS 2024 ATUS release separates whether people engaged in an activity from how long participants spent on it. In 2024, 80.4% of the U.S. population engaged in household activities on an average day, compared with 73.9% of men and 86.6% of women.
| 2024 U.S. average-day measure | Share or time |
|---|---|
| Household activities, total population | 80.4% |
| Household activities, men | 73.9% |
| Household activities, women | 86.6% |
| Housework participation | 37.0% |
| Food preparation and cleanup participation | 63.1% |
| Lawn and garden care participation | 9.9% |
| Household management participation | 17.5% |
Source: American Time Use Survey News Release – 2024 A01 Results. Household activities include housework, cooking, lawn care and household management; housework is narrower than the full household-activities category.
Average time also differs by whether the person participated. U.S. people averaged 2.01 hours per day on household activities in 2024, including nonparticipants on the diary day; the corresponding averages were 1.67 hours for men and 2.34 hours for women.
Among participants, people who did housework averaged 1.68 hours on the activity day. Participants in food preparation and cleanup averaged 1.06 hours, while participants in household management averaged 0.86 hours.
Household Chore Statistics by Age and Family Status
Household activity time varies substantially across age groups and employment situations. In 2025, people ages 15 to 19 spent an average of 43 minutes per day on household activities, while people age 65 and over averaged 2.7 hours per day.
Family status and employment also form a pronounced comparison among U.S. adults living with children under 18:
- In 2025, nonemployed adults in this group averaged 3.1 hours per day on household activities.
- In 2025, employed adults in this group averaged 1.7 hours per day.
- In 2024, nonemployed adults living with children under 18 averaged about 2.9 hours per day.
- In 2024, employed adults in this group averaged about 1.8 hours per day.
Source: American Time Use Survey News Release – 2024 A01 Results. The 2024 and 2025 figures are separate annual averages and should not be treated as a controlled trend estimate; household activities are broader than cleaning alone.
These comparisons also show why a single “average chore time” can be misleading. Age, employment and the presence of children describe different populations, and the BLS measure covers household services, management and caring for household members in addition to physical chores.
Weekday, Weekend and Hourly Household Chore Patterns
Day type and time of day capture different aspects of household work. In 2025, housework participation was 40% on weekend days versus 35% on weekdays, while food preparation and cleanup participation was 66% on weekdays versus 63% on weekend days.
| Activity and time | Share of U.S. population age 15+, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Household activities at noon | 15.4% |
| Household activities at 6 p.m. | 16.8% |
| Household activities at 11 p.m. | 1.4% |
| Housework at noon | 4.8% |
| Housework at 6 p.m. | 2.6% |
| Housework at 11 p.m. | 0.3% |
Source: Table A-3. Percent of the population engaging in selected activities by time of day: 2025 annual averages. These are hourly snapshots of primary activity, not the share doing an activity at any point during the entire day.
Food preparation and cleanup participation was 4.8% at noon, 5.8% at 4 p.m. and 9.6% at 6 p.m. among the listed 2025 hourly observations. The 6 p.m. value is the listed peak for this activity in the cited table, not a daily total.
Household Management, Maintenance and Outdoor Chore Data
Management, repair and outdoor care are part of the household-work picture but have different participation patterns from interior cleaning. In 2025, household management participation was 1.4% at noon and 1.0% at 6 p.m.; the 2025 population-average time for household management was 0.17 hours per day.
Lawn and garden care participation was 2.0% at noon and 0.9% at 6 p.m. in the 2025 hourly observations. Its population-average time was 0.19 hours per day, and the BLS notes that the average includes people without a lawn or garden.
The 2025 hourly table reports approximately zero lawn and garden participation for some late hours. Because hourly percentages describe the primary activity at a stated hour, they are not additive, and related travel time is included for major categories.
The broader 2025 time-use chart recorded 0.06 hours per day for interior maintenance, repair and decoration and 0.05 hours for exterior maintenance, repair and decoration. By sex, men averaged 0.07 and 0.08 hours per day in those categories, respectively, while women averaged 0.05 and 0.03 hours.
Source: Table A-3. Percent of the population engaging in selected activities by time of day: 2025 annual averages and Average hours per day spent in selected household activities. The time-of-day table is a snapshot, whereas the activity chart reports diary-based daily averages.