52% of Different-Sex Couples With Children Both Worked Full Time in 2025; 23% Had Full-Time Father and Homemaker Mother

Fifty-two percent of different-sex couples with children under 18 both worked full time in 2025, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released Tuesday. That figure marks a record high and rises from 46 percent in 2015 and 31 percent in 1975. The share of families with a full-time working father and a homemaker mother fell to 23 percent in 2025 from 42 percent in 1975.

Racial and ethnic patterns differed. Fifty-four percent of white mothers and 52 percent of Asian mothers in two-parent families worked full time in 2025. Sixty percent of Black mothers worked full time, down from 64 percent in 2000.

Education levels also shaped outcomes. Sixty-nine percent of married mothers with a postgraduate degree worked full time in 2025, up from 59 percent in 2000.

Forty-three percent of married mothers who never attended college worked full time. Eighty percent of working parents in dual full-time-income families said the arrangement was a financial boost.

In families where the mother was not employed, an overwhelming majority said the dynamic was better for their children’s well-being. com reported the Pew Research Center findings.