Work life balance is measured in several different ways: daily time use, work and caregiving participation, leisure, work–family conflict, and modeled health burden. The figures below make the population, period, geography and measurement type explicit so these measures are not treated as interchangeable.
Key Work Life Balance Statistics
The most broadly useful work life balance figures include:
- In the 2024 annual average, U.S. people age 15 and over spent 3.1 hours per day working.
- In 2024, employed people in the United States worked on 51.8% of average weekdays and 21.1% of average weekend days.
- In 2024, employed U.S. people who worked averaged 7.95 hours on weekdays and 5.50 hours on weekend days.
- In 2024, 33% of employed U.S. people did some work at home on days worked, compared with 35% in 2023.
- In 2024, U.S. people age 15 and over spent 8.80 hours sleeping on weekdays and 9.59 hours on weekend days.
- In 2024, people age 15 and over spent 1.87 hours per weekday and 2.35 hours per weekend day on household activities in the United States.
- In 2024, 94% of U.S. people age 15 and over engaged in leisure or sports activity on an average day.
- In 2024, full-time U.S. workers averaged 3.97 leisure-and-sports hours per day, versus 4.68 hours for part-time workers.
- In 2024, U.S. adults with a youngest child under 6 spent 2.0 hours per day on primary childcare, versus 0.50 hours when the youngest child was 6–17.
- In 2024, U.S. adults with a child under 13 provided 5.2 hours per day of secondary childcare.
- In 2024, socializing and communicating averaged 35 minutes per day for U.S. people age 15 and over, down from 43 minutes in 2014.
- From 2014 to 2024, the share of U.S. people age 15 and over socializing or communicating on an average day fell from 38% to 30%.
- In 2016, an estimated 479 million people, or 9% of the global population, worked at least 55 hours per week.
- In 2016, WHO and ILO estimated 745,000 global deaths from ischemic heart disease and stroke were attributable to exposure to at least 55 work hours per week.
- In 2016, long working hours were estimated to account for 23.26 million global disability-adjusted life years from ischemic heart disease and stroke.
- Between 2000 and 2016, deaths attributed to long working hours increased 29% globally in the modeled burden across stroke and ischemic heart disease.
Contents
- Work and life in daily time-use data
- Weekday, weekend and remote-work patterns
- Household work, caregiving and parents
- Sleep, leisure and social connection trends
- Long hours, health and work–family conflict
Work Life Balance Statistics: Work and Life in Daily Time-Use Data
The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) reports primary activities in a 24-hour diary day. Its 2024 annual averages cover approximately 7,700 interviews and generally cover people age 15 and over; population averages include people who did not perform an activity on that day.
In 2024, U.S. people age 15 and over spent an average 3.1 hours per day working. Among employed people, work appeared on 51.8% of average weekdays and 21.1% of average weekend days; on days they worked, the averages were 7.95 hours on weekdays and 5.50 hours on weekend days.
The distinction between participation and duration matters: the first measures describe how often work occurred on an average day, while the second is conditional on having worked. For full-time employed people, defined as usually working at least 35 hours per week, the corresponding durations were 8.4 hours on a weekday worked and 5.6 hours on a weekend day worked.
The 2024 data also show differences within employed populations:
- Employed men worked 33 minutes more per workday than employed women; among full-time workers, the averages were 8.2 and 7.9 hours.
- Among employed adults age 25 and over, 68% of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher and 66% with high school or no college worked on an average day.
- Among multiple jobholders, 50% worked on an average weekend day, compared with 29% of single jobholders.
Source: American Time Use Survey — 2024 Results. These are annual-average diary measures, not annual employment rates.
Work Life Balance Data on Weekdays, Weekends and Remote Work
Household responsibilities occupy time alongside paid work. In 2024, people age 15 and over spent 1.87 hours per weekday and 2.35 hours per weekend day on household activities, with participation on 79.8% of weekdays and 81.8% of weekend days.
Among people who performed household activities, the conditional averages were 2.34 hours on weekdays and 2.87 hours on weekend days. The activity mix was uneven:
| Activity or measure | Weekday | Weekend day | Population and period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Household activities, population average | 1.87 hours | 2.35 hours | U.S. people age 15+, 2024 |
| Household-activity participation | 79.8% | 81.8% | U.S. people age 15+, 2024 |
| Sleep | 8.80 hours | 9.59 hours | U.S. people age 15+, 2024 |
| Eating and drinking | 1.18 hours | 1.36 hours | U.S. people age 15+, 2024 |
| Purchasing goods and services | 0.63 hours | 0.78 hours | U.S. people age 15+, 2024 |
| Educational activities | 0.53 hours | 0.17 hours | U.S. people age 15+, 2024 |
Housework participation was 35.5% on weekdays and 40.6% on weekend days, while food preparation and cleanup participation was 63.8% and 61.5%, respectively. Caring for household members averaged 0.54 weekday hours and 0.44 weekend-day hours, and purchasing goods and services includes related travel under BLS activity definitions.
Work location also varied by education. Among workers age 25 and over, 50% of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher worked at home on days worked, compared with 18% of those with high school or no college; across employed people, the share doing some work at home was 33% in 2024 versus 35% in 2023.
On weekend days worked, high-school graduates with no college averaged 6.4 work hours, compared with 4.2 hours for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Working at home includes any work at home and is not limited to a person’s usual workplace.
Source: American Time Use Survey — 2024 Results. Household activities are primary-activity measures unless otherwise stated.
Work Life Balance Statistics for Household Work, Caregiving and Parents
Family composition changes the time available for paid work, rest and leisure. In 2024, employed adults age 18 and over whose youngest child was under 6 spent 1.81 hours per day on household activities, compared with 1.67 hours for employed adults with no household children under 18.
Primary childcare was especially age-sensitive. Employed adults with a youngest child under 6 spent 2.0 hours per day on primary childcare, versus 0.50 hours when the youngest child was 6–17; among adults with a child under 6, women spent 3.0 hours and men 2.0 hours on primary childcare.
The components reported for adults with a child under 6 were also different by sex:
- Women spent 1.3 hours per day on physical childcare, compared with 42 minutes for men.
- Women spent 19 minutes per day on child-care-related travel, compared with 9 minutes for men.
- Employed adults with a youngest child under 6 spent 0.54 hours per day preparing food and cleaning up, the same listed value as employed adults with no household children under 18.
Employment status is associated with different population averages, but these comparisons are not causal estimates. Nonemployed adults with children under 6 spent 3.2 hours per day caring for and helping household children, compared with 2.0 hours for employed adults; among adults with children under 18, the corresponding household-activity averages were 2.9 and 1.8 hours.
Secondary childcare captures simultaneous care while another primary activity is taking place. Adults with at least one child under 13 provided 5.2 hours per day of secondary childcare, including 1.8 hours during leisure and 1.2 hours during household activities; adults with a child under 6 provided 4.5 hours on weekdays and 7.5 hours on weekend days.
Source: American Time Use Survey — 2024 Results. Secondary childcare is not additional standalone time, because it occurs alongside another primary activity.
Work Life Balance Trends in Sleep, Leisure and Social Connection
Sleep averaged 8.80 hours on weekdays and 9.59 hours on weekend days for U.S. people age 15 and over in 2024. Eating and drinking averaged 1.18 and 1.36 hours, while leisure and sports participation occurred for 94% of people on an average day.
Leisure time varied by employment, age and sex:
| Group | Leisure and sports time | Period and geography |
|---|---|---|
| Men, people age 15+ | 5.48 hours/day | U.S., 2024 |
| Women, people age 15+ | 4.67 hours/day | U.S., 2024 |
| Full-time workers | 3.97 hours/day | U.S. employed people, 2024 |
| Part-time workers | 4.68 hours/day | U.S. employed people, 2024 |
| Ages 35–44 | 3.80 hours/day | U.S. people age 15+, 2024 |
| Ages 75+ | 7.56 hours/day | U.S. people age 15+, 2024 |
Employed adults in households without children under 18 averaged 4.5 leisure-and-sports hours per day, compared with 3.0 hours for those with a child under 6. Watching television alone averaged 2.60 hours per day across people age 15 and over.
Social connection showed a decade comparison. Socializing and communicating averaged 35 minutes per day in 2024, compared with 43 minutes in 2014, while average-day participation fell from 38% to 30%.
Other leisure activities differed sharply by age: playing games or using a computer for leisure averaged 1.31 hours per day for ages 15–19 and 0.44 hours for ages 75+, while reading for personal interest averaged 9 minutes for ages 15–19 and 46 minutes for ages 75+.
Source: American Time Use Survey — 2024 Results. Leisure computer use excludes work and education, and socializing is an average-day diary category rather than an annual measure of social contact.
Work Life Balance Statistics on Long Hours, Health and Work–Family Conflict
Long-hours statistics measure a different dimension of balance: exposure and modeled burden rather than how a typical person allocates one diary day. WHO and ILO estimated that 479 million people, or 9% of the global population, worked at least 55 hours per week in 2016.
For that exposure threshold, the modeled 2016 global burden was 745,000 attributable deaths from ischemic heart disease and stroke. The estimate included 398,000 stroke deaths and 347,000 ischemic-heart-disease deaths, plus 23.26 million disability-adjusted life years.
| Modeled measure | 2016 estimate | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| People exposed to at least 55 hours/week | 479 million; 9% | Global population |
| Attributable deaths | 745,000 | Ischemic heart disease and stroke, global |
| Stroke deaths | 398,000 | Global, attributable estimate |
| Ischemic-heart-disease deaths | 347,000 | Global, attributable estimate |
| Disability-adjusted life years | 23.26 million | Ischemic heart disease and stroke, global |
The WHO/ILO analysis estimated that the proportion exposed to at least 55 work hours per week increased 9% in relative terms from 2000 to 2016, while deaths attributed to long working hours increased 29%. Within the modeled disease categories, ischemic-heart-disease deaths increased 42% and stroke deaths increased 19% over the same period; men accounted for 72% of attributable deaths in 2016.
These figures are modeled attributable estimates based on systematic reviews and meta-analyses, not direct counts proving that every long-hours worker experiences the stated outcome. The source covers two diseases and should not be generalized to every possible health or work–life outcome.
Work–family conflict is measured separately from time use and health burden. A 2011 peer-reviewed meta-analysis analyzed 427 effect sizes on work–family conflict outcomes; its effect-size count is a synthesis measure, not a prevalence estimate, and the opened abstract does not supply a pooled coefficient for use here.
Sources: Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease and stroke: WHO, ILO and A meta-analysis of work-family conflict and various outcomes with a special emphasis on cross-domain versus matching-domain relations.