Household cleaning statistics show a broad activity rather than one single task: Americans spend time on interior cleaning, laundry, food cleanup and household management, while surveys also capture seasonal priorities, product exposure calls and reported hygiene routines. The figures below identify the population, geography and measurement period for each result.
Key Household Cleaning Statistics
The most useful household cleaning figures span time use, participation, priorities, safety and routine frequency:
- In the 2025 annual average, 81% of people age 15 and over in the United States did at least one household activity on an average day.
- In 2025, people age 15 and over in the United States spent about 2.0 hours per day on household activities.
- In 2025, interior cleaning averaged 0.33 hours, or about 19.8 minutes, per day for U.S. people age 15 and over.
- In 2025, food preparation and cleanup averaged 0.71 hours per day for U.S. people age 15 and over.
- In 2025, women averaged 2.38 hours per day on household activities in the United States, compared with 1.58 hours for men.
- In 2025, 87% of U.S. women and 75% of U.S. men age 15 and over did household activities on an average day.
- In 2025, people age 65 and over spent 2.7 hours per average day on household activities in the United States.
- In 2025, 40% of U.S. people age 15 and over did housework on an average weekend day, compared with 35% on an average weekday.
- In a February 2020 U.S. adult survey, 78% said their household spring-cleaned every year.
- In that 2020 survey, bedrooms were the top spring-cleaning priority for 25% of U.S. adults who spring-cleaned.
- In February 2020, 65% of U.S. adults named windows among the three dirtiest items in their home.
- U.S. poison centers received 28,158 cleaner-exposure calls from January 1 through March 31, 2020.
- U.S. poison centers received 17,392 disinfectant-exposure calls from January 1 through March 31, 2020.
- Cleaner-exposure calls increased 20.4% in January–March 2020 compared with January–March 2019 in U.S. poison-center data.
- In a May 2020 U.S. adult survey, 60% reported cleaning or disinfecting their home more frequently during the previous month.
- In that survey, 39% reported at least one nonrecommended high-risk cleaning practice.
- In a 2011 New York City undergraduate residence-hall study, 62.7% reported cleaning their living space weekly.
- In the same study, 10.8% said their room was never cleaned.
Contents
- Key Household Cleaning Statistics
- Household Cleaning Time and Activity Data
- Household Cleaning Trends by Sex, Age and Employment
- Household Cleaning Habits and Spring-Cleaning Priorities
- Household Cleaning Product Safety and Exposure Statistics
- Household Hygiene Practices and Surface-Cleaning Frequency
Household Cleaning Time and Activity Data
The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) measures primary activities recorded in a diary day. Its household-activity total includes housework, cooking, lawn care and management, so it is broader than cleaning alone.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 81% of the U.S. civilian population age 15 and over participated in at least one household activity on an average day in the 2025 annual average, while the population spent about 2.0 hours per day on household activities. These averages include people who did not perform a given activity that day. American Time Use Survey News Release – 2025 A01 Results
The detailed 2025 household-activity table separates interior cleaning from other household labor:
| Activity | Average time per day, U.S. persons age 15+, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Interior cleaning | 0.33 hours (about 19.8 minutes) |
| Food preparation and cleanup | 0.71 hours |
| Laundry | 0.17 hours |
| Household management | 0.17 hours |
| Lawn and garden care | 0.19 hours |
| Interior maintenance, repair and decoration | 0.06 hours |
| Exterior maintenance, repair and decoration | 0.05 hours |
Interior cleaning is the closest listed measure to cleaning itself, while food preparation and cleanup, laundry and management describe adjacent household work. Lawn and garden care and maintenance categories are included for context and should not be interpreted as indoor-cleaning time. Average hours per day spent in selected household activities
The 2025 ATUS interviewed approximately 6,100 people, with one randomly selected person age 15 or over per sampled household. The release notes that a federal shutdown removed many fall diaries and that estimates were weighted; seasonal or shutdown effects cannot be quantified from these figures. American Time Use Survey News Release – 2025 A01 Results
Household Cleaning Trends by Sex, Age and Employment
Participation and time differ across demographic groups, although the ATUS measures all household activities rather than cleaning alone. In 2025, 87% of women and 75% of men age 15 and over did some household activity on an average day.
Among people who did household activities, women averaged 2.8 hours on activity days, compared with 2.1 hours for men. Across all days, women averaged 2.38 hours per day on household activities and men averaged 1.58 hours. American Time Use Survey News Release – 2025 A01 Results
Age and employment also mark different activity patterns:
- People age 15–19 spent 43 minutes per average day on household activities in the United States in 2025.
- People age 65 and over spent 2.7 hours per average day on household activities in 2025.
- Adults living with children under 18 who were not employed spent 3.1 hours per day on household activities, compared with 1.7 hours for employed adults in the same household situation.
The employed and non-employed comparison describes groups, not a causal employment effect. Both figures cover all household activities for U.S. adults living with children under 18. American Time Use Survey News Release – 2025 A01 Results
Day of week changes participation in some tasks. 40% of people did housework on an average weekend day in 2025, versus 35% on an average weekday, while food preparation and cleanup was reported by 66% on an average weekday and 63% on an average weekend day. American Time Use Survey News Release – 2025 A01 Results
Household Cleaning Habits and Spring-Cleaning Priorities
A February 10–18, 2020 survey commissioned by the American Cleaning Institute and conducted among 1,000 U.S. adults measured self-reported spring-cleaning habits. 78% said their household spring-cleaned every year; 8% did so every other year, 5% every few years, 3% less often than every few years, and 7% never spring-cleaned.
Among respondents who spring-cleaned, the leading priorities were bedrooms at 25%, closets at 23%, kitchens at 22%, family rooms at 18% and bathrooms at 9%. These are perceived priorities, not measurements of contamination or cleaning quality. 2020 ACI National Cleaning Survey Results: Spring Cleaning Data
The same survey asked U.S. adults which items they considered among the three dirtiest in their home:
| Item | Share naming it among the three dirtiest, U.S. adults, February 2020 |
|---|---|
| Windows | 65% |
| Floors | 64% |
| Toilets | 48% |
| Shelves | 41% |
| Kitchen appliances | 32% |
Respondents could select up to three items, so these percentages are not mutually exclusive. They reflect perceived dirtiness in an industry-association survey rather than measured microbial or particulate levels. 2020 ACI National Cleaning Survey Results: Spring Cleaning Data
Household Cleaning Product Safety and Exposure Statistics
Poison-center records provide call counts, not a complete census of exposures or confirmed injuries. The CDC reported 28,158 cleaner-exposure calls and 17,392 disinfectant-exposure calls in the United States from January 1 through March 31, 2020.
Compared with January–March 2019, cleaner-exposure calls increased 20.4% and disinfectant-exposure calls increased 16.4%. The CDC described the timing as an association and said National Poison Data System data cannot establish a definite COVID-19 causal link. Cleaning and Disinfectant Chemical Exposures and Temporal Associations with COVID-19 — National Poison Data System, United States, January 1, 2020–March 31, 2020
Children age 5 and under represented 35.7% of cleaner-exposure calls and 46.9% of disinfectant-exposure calls during that period. These are shares of calls, not population-risk estimates.
Bleach accounted for 1,949 additional cleaner-exposure calls from 2019 to 2020, or 62.1% of the increase. Cleaner inhalation exposures rose from 4,713 to 6,379 calls, a 35.3% increase, while disinfectant inhalation exposures rose from 569 to 1,188 calls, a 108.8% increase. Cleaning and Disinfectant Chemical Exposures and Temporal Associations with COVID-19 — National Poison Data System, United States, January 1, 2020–March 31, 2020
A separate CDC survey of 502 U.S. adults using an opt-in Internet panel found that 60% reported more frequent home cleaning or disinfection during the previous month in May 2020. 39% reported at least one nonrecommended high-risk practice, including applying bleach to food (19%), using cleaning or disinfectant products on hands or skin (18%), misting the body with a cleaning or disinfectant spray (10%) or intentionally inhaling cleaner or disinfectant vapors (6%). Knowledge and Practices Regarding Safe Household Cleaning and Disinfection for COVID-19 Prevention — United States, May 2020
In that survey, 25% reported at least one adverse health effect they believed resulted from cleaner or disinfectant use. Nose or sinus irritation was reported by 11%, while skin irritation and eye irritation were each 8%; respondents could report multiple effects.
Respondents reporting high-risk practices reported adverse effects at 39%, compared with 16% among those not reporting such practices. This is an association from a self-reported opt-in survey, not clinically verified causation. Knowledge and Practices Regarding Safe Household Cleaning and Disinfection for COVID-19 Prevention — United States, May 2020
Household Hygiene Practices and Surface-Cleaning Frequency
A 2011 peer-reviewed study of 500 undergraduate residence-hall participants in New York City measured self-reported living-space and surface-cleaning frequency. It is a bounded student sample, not a national household estimate.
| Reported practice | Share of New York City residence-hall undergraduates, 2011 |
|---|---|
| Cleaned living space weekly | 62.7% |
| Cleaned living space daily | 10.6% |
| Cleaned living space monthly | 12.2% |
| Said their room was never cleaned | 10.8% |
| Cleaned desktop at least monthly | 54.5% |
| Cleaned keyboard less than once per semester | 68.9% |
| Cleaned bookshelves once per semester or less | 71.5% |
The surface figures show why “cleaning frequency” needs a defined object and interval: a living space, desktop, keyboard and bookshelf can have very different reported schedules. The results are self-reported and come from the 2011 residence-hall population. Personal and Household Hygiene, Environmental Contamination, and Health in Undergraduate Residence Halls in New York City, 2011