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The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) measures the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing. Announcements
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ATUS News ReleasesCurrent
//ATUS July Maintenance Testing 7/17/19// American Time Use News Release06/25/2021
//ATUS July Maintenance Testing 7/17/19// Employed persons worked an average of 7.6 hours on the days that they worked.
//ELCARE ZUNI3PO Test 11/2/2020//Elcare News Release06/12/2019
//ELCARE ZUNI3PO Test 11/2/2020// On days they provided eldercare, persons spent an average of 3.1 hours doing so. Featured
//FLEX2 ZUNI3PO Test 11/2/20// In 2015-16, 16% of the US population, or 41.3 million...09/24/2019
//FLEX2 ZUNI3PO Test 11/2/20// Sixteen percent of the U.S. population provides unpaid eldercare to others. On a given day,
26 percent of eldercare providers engage in eldercare, spending an average of 2.8 hours in
eldercare activities.
//LEAVE ZUNI3PO Test 11/4/20//In 2017, 90% of wage and salary workers had access to paid...08/29/2019
//LEAVE ZUNI3PO Test 11/4/20//In 2017, 90 percent of wage and salary workers had access to paid or
unpaid leave at their main jobs. Twenty-one percent of wage and salary
workers took paid or unpaid leave during an average week and those who
did took an average of 15.6 hours. Archives
To receive e-mail announcements about the American Time Use Survey, please contact the ATUS staff.
ATUS TablesTablesCivilian noninstitutional population age 15 and overNote: Historical estimates (from 2003 to the most recent year) for tables A-1 and A-2 are available through the ATUS Database.
Employed persons
Married parentsNote: Tables A-6 and A-7 are updated and expanded versions of the tables appearing in the May 8, 2008 news release on Married Parents' Use of Time. To access the 2003-06 versions of these tables, see the news release.
Additional tables are available in ATUS news releases. Unpublished tables of time-use estimates by age, ethnicity, employment status, educational attainment, marital status, presence and age of household children, and other categories are available upon request by e-mailing the ATUS staff. ATUS ChartsChartsThe following charts provide a snapshot of how people use their time. These lists are not exclusive—they only contain some of the most interesting or commonly cited statistics from the survey. Activities by sex and day
Activities by employment status
Activities by age
Working activities for employed persons
Household, caring, and leisure activities
ATUS Database
Database
Historical TablesMore Tools
ATUS Data FilesData FilesSingle-Year Data Files
How to use ATUS microdata files Data files do not contain time-use estimates. Time-use estimates are available from: ATUS Survey DocumentationSurvey Documentation
ATUS Frequently Asked QuestionsFrequently Asked Questions
Contact ATUS
Written inquiries may be directed to:
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Latest Numbers![]() AVERAGE HOURS PER DAY
Household activities:
Eating and drinking:
Leisure and sports:
Caring for and helping household children, parents:
Working, employed persons:
Working on days worked, employed persons: PERCENT PARTICIPATING ON AN AVERAGE DAY
Working, employed persons:
Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation: Estimates are annual averages for the civilian noninstitutional population age 15 and over unless noted. Activities refer to an individual's main activity. Other activities done simultaneously are not included. |