Married dads spend over 30 hours per week on domestic duties: study

They’re Generation Mr. Mom.

American dads have been stepping up as homemakers, with a 200% jump in the time spent doing household chores or tending to their kids, a new study has revealed. 

Married fathers with kids spent roughly 30 hours per week doing housework in 2024, according to data from the Institute of Family Studies. 

That’s a stark jump from 1965 when men spent just 10 hours per week tending to their kids and home while moms spent more than 50 hours slaving away at home.

The institute compiled data tracking all the hours married men and women with kids under the age of five spent on household chores and childcare over several decades. 

The men’s data dates back to 1965, while the institute gathered data for women’s housework starting in 1930. 

Dads have increasingly been carrying more of the domestic burden – but moms are still spending more time running the household. 

Great Depression era mothers averaged about 55 hours per week on domestic work. As of 2024, they devote just over 40 hours per week to these obligations, the study found.

And couples are putting in more hours too.

In 1965, the average married couple with small children would have spent around 50 hours per week taking care of them and the house.

Parents now spend about 70 hours per week on the same tasks, but the burden is more evenly distributed, the researchers found.