50 years ago, four in ten American families survived on a single income. Now, the days of families supported by just one salary are behind us.
For the first time in American history, most heterosexual households have two full-time working parents. Currently, both parents in more than half (52%) of heterosexual couples with children under age 18 have full-time jobs, according to a Pew Research analysis based on 2025 data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
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About 25% of families are made up of a father who works full-time and a mother who is not employed.
Another 14% of working parents are not married or do not live with a partner.
The division between working fathers and mothers is not equal across racial groups. Six in ten black mothers who live with a partner work full time, down from 64% in 2000.
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Meanwhile, the share of Asian and white working mothers has increased over time. Currently, 54% of Asian mothers and 52% of white mothers work full time. Twenty-five years ago, about 45% of Asian and white mothers worked full-time.
Hispanic families are an exception: the percentage of dual-income families with both parents working full-time has remained stable over the past 25 years, at around 44%. Additionally, about one-third of Hispanic mothers are not employed, the highest unemployment rate among racial groups.
The level of education also influences the way mothers work. About seven in ten mothers who live with a partner and have a postgraduate degree work full time. More than half of mothers with a college degree work full-time, compared to 43% of mothers with less education.
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Families in which both parents work at least part-time reap more financial benefits than those in which only the father works, Pew found, although all fathers interviewed said their family’s work configuration had neither a positive nor a negative effect on their career advancement.
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More employees, more involved
The rise in the number of households relying on two full-time incomes comes at a time when simply making a living seems out of reach for a growing number of Americans.
Owning a home, a stable job or even feeding your children is becoming increasingly difficult as high inflation and even higher interest rates consume a greater share of people’s income.
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Concerns about the cost of living have soared since the pandemic. Currently, nearly a third of Americans name the high cost of living as their top financial problem, compared to just 3% in 2020.
The explanation lies in the increase in the cost of living. Raising a child costs more than $300,000 over the first 18 years of life, according to recent research from LendingTree, up from $165,630 about 25 years ago.
A family with two children must earn more than $400,000 a year for child care costs to be considered affordable under federal guidelines. Half of Americans say they have just enough money to maintain their standard of living, and nearly a fifth say they are falling behind financially.
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In addition to being able to pay the bills, today’s parents are expected to spend more time with their children, increasing the pressure to find the ideal work-life balance. More than half of parents who work full-time said they have difficulty balancing work and family responsibilities, according to Pew.
“Working mothers today spend more time with their children than mothers who stayed at home when we were growing up,” Wharton School economist Corinne Low previously told Fortune.
Responsibility for caring for children and the home continues to fall disproportionately on women. Even when a wife earns more than her husband, she still does almost twice as much cooking and cleaning as her partner, according to Low, something that was also reflected in Pew’s findings.
Nearly two-thirds of care work is done by women, and if American women were paid for all the unpaid work they do, it would be worth $683 billion, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families.
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