Survey: 35% of American workers do some or all work from home

A new federal American Time Use Survey finds that 35% of Americans in 2025 did some or all of their work at home on workdays, with 70% doing all or some work at a workplace. The survey, posted Thursday (June 25), shows that 8% of Americans socialized less in 2025 than in 2015.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report includes survey results on average amount of time per day in 2025 that individuals worked, did household activities, engaged in leisure and sports activities, and average time per day spent providing childcare.

Working people, according to the survey, worked an average of 5.5 hours during an average weekend day, and worked an average of 8.5 hours during a week day.

“Among those who worked on an average weekend day, those with lower levels of education worked more hours than those with a bachelor’s degree or higher,” the report noted. “On weekend days they worked, high school graduates with no college spent 6.4 hours working, compared with 4.0 hours for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher.”

Following are other survey results in the report.

Among workers age 25 and over, those with higher levels of education were more likely to work at home than were those who had less education. The survey found that 51% of employed people with a bachelor’s degree or higher performed some work at home on days worked, compared with 19% of those with a high school diploma and no college.

On an average day, 81% of people engaged in household activities, such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or household management, spending about 2 hours on these activities. On a gender basis, 87% of women and 75% of men spent some time doing household activities on an average day. On the days they did household activities, women spent an average of 2.8 hours on these activities, while men spent 2.1 hours doing so.

Among adults living with children under age 18, those who were not employed spent over an hour more than those who were employed doing household activities on an average day – 3.1 hours compared to 1.7 hours.

Nearly everyone age 15 and over (95%) engaged in some sort of leisure and sport activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising on an average day. Men were slightly more likely to engage in leisure and sports activities than women (96% compared with 94%) and also spent more time in these activities than did women (5.6 hours, compared with 4.8 hours).

People were less likely to engage in socializing and communicating on an average day in 2025 than in 2015 – 30% compared with 38%. They also spent less time in these activities in 2025 than in 2015 – 35 minutes compared with 41 minutes.

Adults living in households with children under age 6 spent an average of 2.3 hours per day providing primary childcare to household children. Adults living in households where the youngest child was between the ages of 6 and 17 spent one-third as much time providing primary childcare to household children – 47 minutes per day. Primary childcare is childcare that is done as a main activity, such as providing physical care or reading to children.

On an average day, among adults living in households with children under age 6, women spent an hour more than men providing primary childcare to household children – 2.8 hours compared to 1.7 hours. On average, among adults living with children under age 6, those who were not employed spent over an hour more per day caring for and helping household children than did employed adults – 3.3 hours versus 1.7 hours.