How We Spent Our Time in 2020 Versus 2019
By: Nathan Yau
Tags: coronavirus, time use

To slow the spread of Covid-19, we shifted our everyday activities.

Our everyday routines changed over the past year, and with the recent data release from the 2020 American Time Use Survey, we can see by how much.



The survey, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, asks participants what they did over a 24-hour period. Usually, the survey is ongoing with results published each year, but in 2020, it was suspended from mid-March to mid-May.

Still, we can see the shifts in activities. The charts below show how people spent their time in 2019 and 2020. Here’s how to read them:

2019 2020 20 75th percentile 15 MINUTES IN DAY 10 Median 5 25th percentile MEDIAN CHANGE FROM 2019 TO 2020 -40% -30% -20% -10% +10% +20% +30% +40% Less time More time

First, we look at the activities where people spent more time. More green means more time compared to 2019. “Listening to the radio” leads the way with the median more than doubling and the 75th percentile almost quadrupling. Also, to no one’s surprise, people spent more time on home projects.

Listening to the radio Home security Interior arrange., decoration, and repairs Computer use for leisure (not games) Financial management Playing with hh children, not sports Personal e−mail and messages Homework with household children Lawn, garden, and houseplant care 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 160 120 45 90 140 140 14 200 140 80 40 80 100 120 120 120 35 70 12 150 80 60 100 100 100 30 60 10 80 25 50 80 60 80 100 40 60 8 20 40 60 40 60 40 15 30 50 6 40 20 20 20 40 10 20 Reading to/with household children Storing interior household items, including food Phone calls to/ from friends, neighbors Playing games Traveling to/ from gas station Household/ personal organization Travel related to eating and drinking Exterior cleaning Laundry 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 120 60 35 120 90 40 180 50 80 25 160 100 30 50 35 100 70 40 140 25 80 40 30 80 60 20 120 30 20 60 50 30 25 60 100 40 15 20 15 40 20 20 80 40 30 10 10 20 10 20 15 10 60 Travel for household management App, tool, toy set−up, repair, maint. (by self) Waiting for/with hh children Waiting assoc. with helping household adults Arts and crafts as a hobby Running Weightlifting/ strength training Gap/can’t remember Telephone calls, miscellaneous 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 35 200 60 60 120 120 70 30 35 55 55 100 30 100 60 30 150 25 50 50 80 25 50 25 80 45 45 60 20 100 40 20 20 40 40 60 40 30 15 15 15 50 35 35 40 20 20 10 10 30 30 10 Walking Biking Relaxing, thinking Looking after hh children (as prim. activity) Eating and drinking Sleeplessness Travel related to taking class Television and movies (not religious) Rsrch/HW for class for degree or license 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 300 60 60 120 60 90 45 80 250 55 80 40 250 50 100 50 70 50 70 35 200 40 200 80 60 45 40 60 30 30 150 150 50 60 40 50 25 30 20 40 100 35 40 20 40 100 30 20 10 30 30 15 Work, other job(s) Food and drink preparation Sleeping 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 300 60 250 550 50 200 40 500 150 30 100 450 20 Interior arrange., decoration, and repairs Listening to the radio Home security 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 160 14 200 140 120 12 150 100 10 80 100 60 8 40 50 6 20 Computer use for leisure (not games) Financial management Playing with household children, not sports 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 120 140 80 100 120 80 60 100 60 80 40 40 60 20 20 40 Personal e−mail and messages Homework with household children Lawn, garden, and houseplant care 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 45 90 140 40 80 120 35 70 100 30 60 25 50 80 20 40 60 15 30 40 10 20 Reading to/with household children Storing interior household items, including food Phone calls to/ from friends, neighbors 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 120 40 25 100 35 80 30 20 60 25 15 40 20 20 15 10 Playing games Traveling to/from gas station Household/personal organization 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 60 180 50 160 50 40 140 40 120 30 30 100 20 20 80 10 10 60 Travel for eating and drinking Exterior cleaning Laundry 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 35 120 90 80 30 100 70 25 80 60 20 50 60 40 15 40 30 10 20 Travel for household management App, tool, toy set−up, repair, maint. (by self) Waiting for/with hh children 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 120 30 35 100 30 25 80 25 60 20 20 40 15 15 20 10 10 Waiting assoc. with helping household adults Arts and crafts as a hobby Running 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 35 200 60 55 30 150 50 25 45 100 20 40 15 50 35 10 30 Weightlifting/ strength training Gap/ can’t remember Telephone calls, miscellaneous 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 60 120 70 55 100 60 50 50 80 45 40 40 60 30 35 40 20 30 Rsrch/HW for class for degree or license Walking Biking 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 300 60 60 55 250 50 50 200 45 40 150 40 30 100 35 30 20 Relaxing, thinking Looking after hh children (as a prim. activity) Eating and drinking 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 120 60 80 50 100 70 40 80 60 30 50 60 20 40 40 10 30 Sleeplessness Travel related to taking class Television and movies (not religious) 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 90 45 250 80 40 70 35 200 60 30 150 50 25 40 20 100 30 15 Work, other job(s) Food and drink preparation Sleeping 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 300 60 250 550 50 200 40 500 150 30 100 450 20

By looking at ranges from the 25th to 75th percentiles, we can see not just how the middle (median) changed, but also the variation within some activities.

For example, the median duration for household organization went up while the upper limit went down. The shape is more trapezoid than parallelogram. This seems to suggest people spent more time overall, but those who spent the most time on household organization pre-pandemic spent their time elsewhere.

Similarly, activities with children show a more significant increase on the upper end, but those without children in the household keep the bottom end more flat.

So where do the minutes come from? Here are activities that decreased the most, relatively speaking. More purple means steeper decrease.

Shopping, except groceries, food, and gas Waiting assoc. w/ helping nonhh adults Dropping off/ picking up nonhh children Health−related self care Travel for religious/ spiritual prac. Picking up/ dropping off nonhh adult Travel for personal care 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 30 40 45 14 14 70 40 40 35 25 12 12 60 35 30 30 10 20 10 50 30 25 8 25 8 40 20 15 20 6 20 6 30 10 10 15 4 15 4 20 5 10 2 10 Travel for relaxing and leisure Sewing, repairing, and maintaining textiles Travel to help household adults Banking Using personal care services Walking, playing with animals Taking class for degree, certif., or license 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 30 120 40 60 200 400 14 180 35 100 25 50 350 160 12 30 140 80 300 20 10 40 120 25 250 8 60 100 15 30 20 80 6 200 40 10 60 15 20 Working out Travel related to working Travel to care for and help nonHH kids Home schooling of household children Travel to help nonhh adults Physical care for household children Work, main job 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 60 60 45 300 80 560 50 40 540 70 250 50 50 35 520 40 60 200 30 500 40 40 50 25 480 30 150 20 460 40 30 30 20 100 15 440 30 20 20 10 420 Waiting assoc. w/ helping nonhh adults Dropping off/ picking up nonhh children Health−related self care 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 30 14 40 25 12 30 20 10 8 20 15 6 10 10 4 5 Travel for religious practices Picking up/ dropping off nonhh adult Shopping, except groceries, food, and gas 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 40 14 70 35 12 60 30 10 50 25 8 40 20 6 30 15 4 20 10 2 Travel for relaxing and leisure Banking Travel for personal care 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 30 45 14 40 25 35 12 30 20 10 25 8 20 15 15 6 10 10 Sewing and repairing, textiles Travel to help hh adults Using personal care services 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 120 40 200 180 35 100 160 30 140 80 120 25 60 100 20 80 40 60 15 Working out Walking, playing with animals Taking class for degree, certif., or license 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 60 60 400 50 50 350 300 40 40 250 30 30 200 20 20 Travel related to working Travel related to caring for and helping nonHH kids Home schooling of hh children 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 60 45 300 40 250 50 35 200 30 40 25 150 20 30 100 15 20 10 Physical care for household children Travel related to helping nonhh adults Work, main job 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 80 560 50 540 70 520 40 60 500 50 480 30 460 40 20 440 30 420

Time spent waiting and dropping off others was down about half, probably because no one went anywhere, as supported by travel and commute times also down.

Health-related self care, personal care services, and working out jump out at me as activities that went down in time that I bet people miss.

The shape for home schooling of household children has me curious. I thought time would have increased across the board, but people seemed split in 2020.

I’m also curious about splits across demographic groups. Low income versus high income? Essential workers versus non-essential? Kids versus no kids? There’s a lot to look at.

Notes