These are America’s favorite and least favorite chores

Jamie BallardData Journalist
March 18, 2021, 2:30 PM GMT+0

As Americans get started on their spring cleaning, there are some chores they dread more than others.

There’s a three-way tie for America’s least favorite chore, between doing the dishes, sanitizing/wiping the bathroom, and doing laundry (all 14%). Dusting (11%), ironing (10%), and sweeping/mopping (10%) come next on the list.

When asked about “favorite” chores (or the ones people at least don’t mind doing), the most common response was doing laundry (24%), followed by organizing/picking up clutter (13%), doing the dishes (13%), and vacuuming (11%).

These results suggest that doing the dishes is an especially divisive chore, as 13% say it’s their favorite chore while a roughly equal number (14%) say it is their least favorite. The task of doing laundry is also somewhat contentious, though it is more liked (24% say it’s their favorite) than disliked (14%).

Women are more likely than men to choose laundry (26% vs 20%) and organizing (16% vs 10%) as their favorite chores. Men (15%) are far more likely than women (3%) to say taking out the trash is their favorite household chore.

See full results here.

Related: Six in ten women say they do all or most of the chores in their home

Methodology: YouGov polled 1,775 US adults, including 1,385 who will be spring cleaning. The survey was conducted on Wednesday, March 10 between 12:10 pm and 12:24 pm Eastern Standard Time. Data is weighted on age, gender, education level, race, and political affiliation to be nationally representative of adults in the United States. The margin of error is approximately 3.2% for the overall sample.

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