Home Cooking Statistics

Home cooking statistics at a glance

Home cooking is not a niche habit. The source data shows that Americans spend meaningful time on food preparation and cleanup, and that the pattern shifts by gender, work location, and education. The same dataset also shows how food spending, eating at home, and work-from-home behavior connect to the amount of time people spend in the kitchen.

Quick facts

• In 2024, U.S. adults age 15 and over spent 0.67 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup on average (BLS ATUS 2024 household activities chart).
• In 2024, men spent 0.46 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup, while women spent 0.86 hours per day (BLS ATUS 2024 household activities chart).
• In 2023, food spending in the United States reached $2.57 trillion (USDA ERS U.S. Consumers Increased Spending on Food Away From Home in 2023, Driving Overall Food Spending Growth).
• In 2018, food away from home accounted for 54.4% of total U.S. food expenditures, while food at home accounted for 45.6% (USDA ERS U.S. spending on food away from home outpaced food-at-home spending in 2018).
• In 2017-18, prime working-age adults who worked from home spent 41 minutes per day on food preparation activities, compared with 30 minutes for those who worked away from home (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home).

Table of contents

• How much time people spend on home cooking
• Who spends more time preparing food
• How work-from-home changes food preparation
• What the eating-at-home data shows
• What the spending data says about home cooking
• Patterns that matter for home kitchens

How much time people spend on home cooking

The clearest headline in the dataset is simple: home cooking and cleanup take time every day, and the amount is large enough to shape routines.

In 2024, U.S. adults age 15 and over spent 0.67 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup on average (BLS ATUS 2024 household activities chart). That is a practical measure because it combines the work before and after eating, not just the cooking step itself.

The same source shows a gender gap in the 2024 average. Men spent 0.46 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup, while women spent 0.86 hours per day (BLS ATUS 2024 household activities chart). The gap is visible even before you look at participation rates or time among only those who do the task.

A useful way to read these numbers is as a daily baseline. They do not describe the entire food system, but they do show that home cooking is embedded in ordinary time use rather than appearing only on weekends or special occasions.

Recent movement in the average

The older time-use figures suggest the average has stayed fairly steady with a slight increase across the pandemic period.

• In 2019, the average person spent 0.62 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 1).
• In 2020, the average person spent 0.66 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 1).
• In 2019, 59.0% of people age 15 and over did food preparation and cleanup on a given day (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 1).
• In 2020, 59.8% of people age 15 and over did food preparation and cleanup on a given day (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 1).

Those figures point to a small but measurable rise in both time spent and participation.

Who spends more time preparing food

The dataset gives a detailed split by gender, including both participation and time among those who did the activity.

Measure	Men	Women	Source label
2019 time spent on food prep and cleanup	0.41 hours	0.82 hours	BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2
2020 time spent on food prep and cleanup	0.42 hours	0.89 hours	BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2
2019 did food prep and cleanup on an average day	48.0%	69.4%	BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2
2020 did food prep and cleanup on an average day	47.1%	71.7%	BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2
2019 time among those who did the activity	0.86 hours	1.18 hours	BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2
2020 time among those who did the activity	0.89 hours	1.24 hours	BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2

The table shows two things at once. First, women were more likely than men to do food preparation and cleanup on an average day in both years. Second, among those who did the activity, women also spent more time on it.

That pattern matters because it tells you the gap is not just about frequency. It also appears in the amount of time devoted once the task begins.

A compact reading of the gap

• In 2019, women did the activity on 69.4% of days, compared with 48.0% for men (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2).
• In 2020, women did the activity on 71.7% of days, compared with 47.1% for men (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2).
• In 2020, women who did the activity spent 1.24 hours per day on it, while men who did the activity spent 0.89 hours per day (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2).

The result is a layered picture of home cooking statistics: participation differs, time differs, and the difference persists in consecutive years.

How work-from-home changes food preparation

Work location is one of the strongest contextual signals in the dataset. Several of the statistics connect home cooking to the amount of time people work at home or the share of days they work at home.

In 2019, prime working-age adults who worked from home were more likely to prepare food than those who worked away from home, 75% versus 63% (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home). That comparison points to a simple but important fact: when the workday is at home, food preparation becomes easier to fit into the day.

The time-use figures for 2020 reinforce the same direction.

• In 2020, employed persons who worked at home on an average day did so 41.7% of the time they worked, up from 22.4% in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 4).
• In 2020, employed persons who worked at home on an average day spent 5.78 hours working at home, up from 3.64 hours in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 4).
• In 2020, employed men who worked at home on an average day spent 5.98 hours working at home, up from 3.48 hours in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 4).
• In 2020, employed women who worked at home on an average day spent 5.61 hours working at home, up from 3.80 hours in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 4).

The education breakdown also shows that home-based work was not distributed evenly.

• In 2020, employed people with some college or an associate degree worked at home on 36.2% of days they worked, up from 16.8% in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 4).
• In 2020, employed people with a bachelor’s degree or higher worked at home on 65.3% of days they worked, up from 37.2% in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 4).
• In 2020, employed people with only a bachelor’s degree worked at home on 59.0% of days they worked, up from 33.8% in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 4).
• In 2020, employed people with an advanced degree worked at home on 73.9% of days they worked, up from 41.5% in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 4).

That educational gradient matters for home cooking because work-from-home time is linked to the ability to eat at home and prepare food during the day.

Job type also matters

The dataset includes occupation and employment-type comparisons that show the home-work effect is broad but not uniform.

• In 2020, wage and salary workers worked at home on 39.5% of days they worked, up from 19.4% in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 5).
• In 2020, multiple jobholders worked at home on 50.2% of days they worked, up from 38.8% in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 4).
• In 2020, self-employed workers spent 5.01 hours working at home on an average day, up from 4.02 hours in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 5).
• In 2020, management, business, and financial operations workers worked at home on 68.1% of days they worked, up from 34.4% in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 5).
• In 2020, management, business, and financial operations workers spent 6.59 hours working at home, up from 4.40 hours in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 5).
• In 2020, professional and related workers worked at home on 59.9% of days they worked, up from 34.6% in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 5).
• In 2020, professional and related workers spent 5.64 hours working at home, up from 3.49 hours in 2019 (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 5).

Taken together, the work-from-home statistics suggest that home cooking is partly a schedule problem. More home time during the day creates more opportunities to prepare food, eat at home, and manage cleanup without needing a separate trip or a tightly compressed break.

What the eating-at-home data shows

Eating at home is not the same as cooking at home, but the two behaviors are closely related in the source data.

In 2017-18, 78% of prime working-age adults reported eating at home on an average weekday (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home). The share was even higher among people who worked from home: 89% of people who worked from home ate at home on an average weekday, compared with 77% of people who worked away from home (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home).

The same source gives time spent eating at home.

• In 2017-18, those who worked from home spent 49 minutes eating at home on an average weekday (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home).
• In 2017-18, those who worked away from home spent 27 minutes eating at home on an average weekday (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home).

Those differences are substantial because they show that home-based work reshapes the entire food day, not only the cooking portion. If more of a weekday is spent at home, both meal prep and meal consumption shift toward the home environment.

Food preparation time on weekdays

The same USDA source gives a second layer of detail on food preparation activities.

• In 2017-18, prime working-age adults who worked from home spent 41 minutes on food preparation activities on an average weekday (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home).
• In 2017-18, prime working-age adults who worked away from home spent 30 minutes on food preparation activities on an average weekday (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home).
• In 2017-18, 64% of prime working-age adults engaged in food preparation activities on an average weekday (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home).
• In 2017-18, prime working-age adults spent 31 minutes per day on food preparation activities on average (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home).

That means the average weekday already contains a measurable cooking footprint even before you isolate special groups such as remote workers. The at-home segment simply intensifies it.

What the spending data says about home cooking

Home cooking statistics are not just about time. They also sit inside a broader food economy, and the spending figures help explain why the at-home side of the food system still matters.

In 2023, food spending in the United States reached $2.57 trillion (USDA ERS U.S. Consumers Increased Spending on Food Away From Home in 2023, Driving Overall Food Spending Growth). That is a large number, but the composition of spending is just as important as the total.

In 2018, food away from home accounted for 54.4% of total U.S. food expenditures, while food at home accounted for 45.6% (USDA ERS U.S. spending on food away from home outpaced food-at-home spending in 2018). The balance shows that home food spending is still a major part of the market, even if away-from-home spending is larger.

The fat-content statistics offer a different angle on the at-home side of food.

• In 1977-78, at-home foods supplied 41.0% of calories from fat (USDA ERS Declines in Fat Content Have Been Largest for Home-Prepared Food).
• In 2011-14, at-home foods supplied 32.1% of calories from fat (USDA ERS Declines in Fat Content Have Been Largest for Home-Prepared Food).
• In 1977-78, away-from-home foods supplied 41.2% of calories from fat (USDA ERS Declines in Fat Content Have Been Largest for Home-Prepared Food).
• In 2011-14, away-from-home foods supplied 37.4% of calories from fat (USDA ERS Declines in Fat Content Have Been Largest for Home-Prepared Food).

These figures do not tell you how to cook. They do show that the home-prepared side of the food supply changed over time in a measurable way, and that the improvement in the at-home category was larger than the change for away-from-home foods.

Patterns that matter for home kitchens

A few patterns stand out across the full dataset.

1. Home cooking is routine, not rare

The average adult spends well under an hour on food preparation and cleanup per day, but that is still enough to matter every day (BLS ATUS 2024 household activities chart). The 2019 and 2020 figures also show that the activity is part of ordinary time use for a majority of people age 15 and over on a given day (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 1).

2. Gender differences are persistent

Women appear more likely to prepare food on an average day and spend more time doing it when they do, across both the 2019 and 2020 measures (BLS ATUS 2021 news release table 2). The 2024 chart repeats the same direction in the overall daily time figure (BLS ATUS 2024 household activities chart).

3. Work location changes the food day

People working from home spend more time preparing food and more time eating at home than those working away from home (USDA ERS Working From Home Leads to More Time Spent Preparing Food, Eating at Home). That is a direct link between schedule and kitchen behavior.

4. Education and occupation shape access to home work

The share of days worked at home rose in 2020 across education levels, but the highest levels of at-home work were concentrated among people with more education and in management, business, financial operations, and professional occupations (BLS ATUS 2021 news release tables 4 and 5). That helps explain why home cooking patterns can vary across groups.

5. The broader food system still leans heavily toward both home and away-from-home spending

Food away from home made up more than half of total food expenditures in 2018, but food at home remained a major share at 45.6% (USDA ERS U.S. spending on food away from home outpaced food-at-home spending in 2018). That balance keeps home cooking economically relevant even when restaurant and takeaway spending are dominant.

The strongest reading of the data is that home cooking sits at the intersection of time, work, and spending. It is shaped by who is at home, when they are at home, and how the household uses that time.