Household Chore Statistics (2026)
Unlike the mental load, household chores are the part of domestic work that's easiest to measure — governments run time-use surveys specifically to track how many minutes people spend cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and maintaining a home. That makes chore statistics some of the most reliable numbers in this entire space.
The consistent finding across decades of time-use data, in the U.S. and internationally, is that women do more indoor, routine housework (cleaning, laundry, cooking), while men do more outdoor and occasional maintenance (lawn care, vehicle repair) — and the routine category takes up far more days per year than the occasional one.
This page compiles verified data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the UK Office for National Statistics, and the OECD. If you want to audit your own household division, use our Chore Split Calculator, explore our framework to divide household responsibilities, or see our tested ranking of the best chore apps for couples.
Interactive resource: See how your own chore split divides hour by hour: try the free chore split calculator.
OpenKey statistics
- U.S. women spend 2.38 hours a day (143 minutes) on household activities versus 1.58 hours (95 minutes) for men — a 48-minute daily gap (~292 hours/year).
- On an average day, 86.7% of women engage in household activities compared to 74.9% of men.
- Participation in interior cleaning is 31.0% for women vs 15.5% for men; laundry is 23.9% for women vs 8.4% for men.
- Even among full-time employed adults, women average 1.76 hours/day on household activities compared to 1.40 hours/day for men.
- 43% of parents say mom does more household chores overall; 17% say dad does more; 40% say it's shared equally.
- Mothers report only 26% satisfaction with how chores are divided, versus 49% for fathers, in the same national survey.
- 95% of respondents in a 2026 U.S. survey said a partner's contribution to chores affected how attractive they found them.
- Given the choice between a partner planning a romantic date or doing the chores, 59% chose the chores.
- UK women spent 3 hours 32 minutes a day on unpaid work in March 2024, versus 2 hours 35 minutes for men — a 57-minute gap.
- Across 30 OECD countries, women perform roughly twice the daily unpaid work of men on average.
- Japan has one of the largest OECD gender gaps in unpaid work: women do an estimated 3 additional hours per day compared to men.
- Sweden, Denmark, and Norway have the narrowest OECD gaps — under one hour a day.
- Even as spouses increasingly earn similar incomes, women in U.S. different-sex marriages still do more housework and caregiving.
Household Chore Statistics (General)
Government time-use surveys are the gold standard for chore data because they ask representative samples to log an entire day in detail, rather than relying on memory or self-perception.
U.S. women spend 2.38 hours a day (143 minutes) on household activities, versus 1.58 hours (95 minutes) for men — a 48-minute daily gap.
This comes from the federal government's annual time-use survey 2025 release. Over a full year, this 48-minute daily difference compounds into roughly 292 additional hours of household labor.
On an average day, 86.7% of women engage in household activities compared to 74.9% of men.
Participation rates diverge sharply by chore type: 31.0% of women do interior cleaning daily vs. 15.5% of men, and 23.9% of women do laundry vs. 8.4% of men.
Household Chores by Gender
The gender split isn't just about total minutes — it's about which categories of chores each gender is more likely to own.
Full-time employment narrows but does not eliminate the chore gap: full-time working women average 1.76 hours/day on household tasks vs. 1.40 hours for men.
Paid work parity does not automatically equal home parity. Even with identical work hours, women continue to carry significantly more daily domestic execution.
Even as husbands and wives increasingly earn similar incomes, wives still do more housework and caregiving while husbands do more paid work and leisure.
This nationally representative survey of 5,152 U.S. adults specifically tested whether income equality between spouses closes the chore gap — and found it doesn't. Couples earning similarly still split unpaid labor unevenly along gender lines.
Household Chores in Marriage
Marriage-specific surveys reveal not just the division of labor, but the gap between that division and how satisfied each partner is with it.
43% of parents say mom does more household chores, 17% say dad does more, and 40% describe it as shared equally.
This is from a 2026 nationally representative sample of dual-full-time-employed U.S. couples — meaning even when both partners work full time, a majority still report an unequal division of chores favoring one partner.
Mothers report only 26% satisfaction with how chores are divided, compared to 49% among fathers.
Satisfaction tracked closely with equality of the split: couples who described chores as shared equally reported markedly higher satisfaction for mothers than couples in an unequal arrangement, regardless of the couple's total household income.
Household Chores and Relationship Satisfaction
Recent public surveys have connected chore division directly to attraction and relationship satisfaction, not just fairness.
95% of respondents said a partner's contribution to household work affected how attracted they were to that partner.
In a 2026 U.S. survey of more than 3,600 adults, chore contribution ranked among the top factors shaping ongoing attraction within a relationship — ahead of more traditionally romantic gestures for a majority of respondents.
Given a choice between a partner planning a romantic date or doing the chores, 59% of respondents chose the chores.
The same survey found 60% of respondents said balancing work and household life had led to burnout, and 49% said household responsibilities had affected their career — suggesting chore division reads to many couples as a bigger relationship signal than romantic gestures.
Household Chores by Country
International time-use data shows the gender gap in unpaid household work everywhere researchers have measured it, though the size of the gap varies widely by country.
UK women spent 3 hours 37 minutes a day on unpaid work, versus 2 hours 43 minutes for men — a 54-minute daily gap.
The UK's national statistics office runs a rolling time-use survey; this gender gap has narrowed from 1 hour 12 minutes in late 2020 to 54 minutes in late 2023 / 2024, though a persistent nearly one-hour imbalance remains.
Across 30 OECD countries, women perform roughly twice the daily unpaid work of men on average, but Japan's gap runs to about 3 extra hours a day for women — among the widest in the OECD.
By contrast, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway have the narrowest OECD gaps, at under one hour a day — evidence that policy and cultural context (parental leave structure, part-time work norms, childcare availability) shape the size of the chore gap even where it doesn't fully close it.
Charts
Minutes per day on household activities, by gender (US, 2025)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey, 2025 annual averages.
Daily gender gap in unpaid work, by region (approx. hours)
Source: OECD Ecoscope, "Reaching equal pay: a pending job" (2025), citing OECD Time Use Database figures. Values are approximate regional comparisons cited in the source, not exact per-minute OECD table figures.
Research findings compared
Different studies use different samples and methods, which is why headline numbers vary. This table lines up the studies referenced on this page side by side.
| Study | Source tier | Year | Sample | Country | Key finding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Time Use Survey | Tier A | 2026 | National time-diary sample | United States | Women log 2.38 h/day (143 min) on household activities vs. 1.58 h (95 min) for men; 48-min/day gap. |
| How Working Parents Divide Family Responsibilities | Tier A | 2026 | 2,242 working parents | United States | 43% say mom does more chores; mothers report 26% chore-division satisfaction vs. 49% for fathers. |
| Good Housekeeping chores/attraction survey | Tier C | 2026 | Good Housekeeping American Home Survey | United States | 95% link chore contribution to attraction; 59% would rather partner do chores than plan a date. |
| Time Use in the UK | Tier A | 2024 | National time-diary sample | United Kingdom | Women average 3h37m/day unpaid work vs. 2h43m for men (54-min gap). |
| OECD Time Use Database / Ecoscope analysis | Tier A | 2024-2025 | 30 member countries | OECD, incl. Japan, Nordic region | OECD average gap ~2x; Japan gap ~3 hrs/day; Nordic gap <1 hr/day. |
How we built this page
- We drew chore-time statistics only from government time-use surveys (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, UK Office for National Statistics) and the OECD's cross-country time-use database, since these use consistent time-diary methodology rather than self-reported perception.
- Where the topic was chore division as reported by couples themselves (rather than a time diary), we used a large, nationally representative Pew Research Center survey and stated the sample size alongside the figure.
- International comparisons in the 'by country' section combine figures reported at different levels of precision (exact minutes for the U.S. and U.K., approximate hour ranges for Japan and the Nordic region) — we've noted this in the chart source line rather than presenting them as equally precise.
- This page was last checked for broken links and outdated figures on 2026-07-21.
Frequently asked questions answers
Common questions about household chores.
In the U.S., government time-use data shows women average 2.38 hours (143 minutes) a day on household activities versus 1.58 hours (95 minutes) for men, with housework alone taking 49 minutes daily for women versus 18 minutes for men (0.81 vs. 0.30 hours). This pattern — women doing more routine indoor chores, men doing more occasional outdoor/maintenance chores — holds across most countries with available time-use data.
Sources cited on this page
- [1]U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. American Time Use Survey — 2025 Results (2026). Sample: Nationally representative time-diary sample. United States. View source
- [2]Pew Research Center. In a Growing Share of U.S. Marriages, Husbands and Wives Earn About the Same (2023). Sample: 5,152 U.S. adults. United States. View source
- [3]Pew Research Center. How Working Parents Divide Family Responsibilities (2026). Sample: 2,242 working parents. United States. View source
- [4]Good Housekeeping. The New American Home: Survey on Chores, Attraction, and Mental Load (2026). Sample: Good Housekeeping American Home Survey. United States. View source
- [5]UK Office for National Statistics. Time Use in the UK (2024). United Kingdom. View source
- [6]OECD Ecoscope. Reaching equal pay: a pending job (2025). OECD countries, incl. Japan and Nordic region. View source
- [7]OECD. Time Use Database — Persistent Gender Gaps in Paid and Unpaid Work (2024). 30 OECD countries. View source
Related reading
Calculate the physical chore hours and division of domestic tasks in your household.
The planning and remembering behind the chores — measured separately from time-use data.
How chore division connects to marriage rates, satisfaction, and stability.
Turn a chore agreement into a signed, mutual promise with deadlines and give-backs.
How couples establish full domain ownership instead of open-ended helping.
Printable 19-domain checklist for dividing household tasks.
Looking to put these findings into practice in your own relationship? You can try the free chore split calculator privately in your browser to evaluate where things stand before setting new agreements.
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