Most Married Parents Now Work Full Time

Key Points:

• In 2023, 52% of different-sex couples with minor children had both parents working full time, marking the highest share on record and a significant rise since 1975, driven by more college-educated women entering the workforce and rising living costs.
• Traditional households with a full-time working father and a non-employed mother declined from 42% in 1975 to 23% in 2023, with dual full-time employment especially common among mothers with postgraduate degrees.
• Many parents report challenges balancing work and parenting, with 52% of full-time working parents saying their job makes parenting harder, and 45% saying having kids makes career advancement more difficult.
• Working mothers generally take on a larger share of parenting duties, with 52% of different-sex couples reporting moms shoulder more of the parenting, compared to 10% for dads, and 39% saying duties are evenly split.
• While remote work is viewed as very helpful by most parents, only 24% have that option, and childcare costs remain a major barrier across income levels, with lower-income families relying more on informal care and higher-income families more likely to pay for daycare or preschool.