Most US families now have 2 parents working full time: Pew

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Polling released Wednesday found that most U.S. families have both parents working full-time jobs.

The Pew Research Center found that, as of 2025, 52 percent of mothers and fathers in different-sex relationships with children under 18 both work full-time jobs, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. This is up from 31 percent in 1975.

“We find that parents in families where both the mom and the dad work at least part-time are more likely to see financial benefits than those in families where the dad works full-time and the mom isn’t employed,” the Pew survey’s authors wrote. “This is especially the case in families where both parents work full-time.”

Twenty-three percent of families have a father working full-time while the mother is not employed, down from 42 percent in 1975. Researchers found that parents in this situation are more likely to see it as “positive for their children’s well-being,” according to fathers who were surveyed.

Among respondents where both parents work full time, 83 percent said the arrangement was overwhelmingly positive for their family’s finances. Nineteen percent of respondents where the father works full time and the mother is not employed reported the situation was positive for the family’s finances.

This differs when it comes to the well-being of children, where 85 percent of couples in which the father works full time and the mother is not employed say their arrangement has a positive impact. It’s less positive among family arrangements where both parents work, with 49 percent saying there is a positive impact on their children’s well-being.

Pew found that 60 percent of Black mothers and fathers, either married or living together, both work full time, marking a slight decrease from 64 percent in 2000.

The number of Hispanic couples where both the man and woman work full time has also mostly plateaued since 2000 at 45 percent compared with 44 percent as of 2025.

Asian families saw more mothers and fathers both working full time at 52 percent compared with 45 percent in 2003, when Asian Americans were first included in the population survey.

“Parents in each group largely say their family work arrangement has had neither a positive nor negative impact on their ability to advance in their job or career,” researchers wrote.

The Pew survey was conducted March 2-15 and included 2,242 respondents.

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