Only two-thirds of Americans want to share a bed with their partner

Jamie BallardData Journalist
April 09, 2021, 3:15 PM GMT+0

Married couples typically vow to have and to hold one another – but some would rather not be holding onto each other all night long.

A YouGov survey of more than 12,000 US adults finds that 66% of Americans say their ideal sleeping arrangement with a partner is sharing the same bed. Assuming cost was not a concern and there would be no impact to the relationship, another 7% say their preferred sleeping situation would be sleeping in different beds in the same room, and about one in 11 (9%) say their ideal arrangement would be sleeping in different beds in different rooms.

Overall, women (64%) are slightly less likely than men (69%) to say their preferred sleeping arrangement with a partner is sharing the same bed. This gap expands among those who are married, with wives noticeably less likely than husbands to say they would prefer to share the same bed with their partner (71% vs 82%).

It may not be surprising that women are a bit more likely to say they’d like to have a bed to themselves. A 2018 YouGov poll finds that most women (56%) say they don’t generally get enough sleep. Fewer men (48%) say the same.

See full results here.

Related: One-third of partnered men wish they were having sex more often

Methodology: 12,920 US adults were surveyed between March 2 - 6, 2021. The responding sample is weighted to be representative of the US population.

Image: Getty