Time Use

Among married couples in the United States, women’s financial contributions have grown steadily over the last half century. Even when earnings are similar, husbands spend more time on paid work and leisure, while wives devote more time to caregiving and housework.

Widespread child care challenges from the coronavirus pandemic lasted into 2021 for some U.S. parents.

The share of U.S. adults who now report that they go online “almost constantly” has risen to 31%, up from 21% in 2015.

Moms are more likely than dads to say they are the primary meal preparers, and they spend more time on average than dads on meal preparation.

Compared with 10 years ago, American teens are devoting more of their time in the summer to educational activities and less time to leisure.

Alone time for older Americans amounts to about seven hours a day. Time spent alone rises to over 10 hours a day among those living on their own.

Those 60 and older now spend more than half of their daily leisure time, four hours and 16 minutes, in front of screens.

Teens are spending their time differently than they did a decade ago, but gender differences remain in time spent on leisure, grooming, homework, housework and errands.

U.S. fathers today are spending more time caring for their children than they did a half-century ago. Moms, by comparison, still do more of the child care and are more likely than dads to say they are satisfied with the amount of time they spend with their kids.

Changing diapers and arranging play dates is a world apart from running the carpool and helping with college applications.