50 Fascinating Facts and Statistics About Working Moms in 2024

Being a mom is hard, no matter what! Moms who work outside of the home have to balance their career and their family. It’s no easy task, but women have been doing it for years! (Check out the facts below to see how working moms have changed throughout the ages.) Below are some really interesting statistics about working moms. Some of the facts might surprise you, while others will just make sense!

General Statistics About Working Moms (in the US)

Check out these working mom facts and figures. Learn about the age of working moms, the average earnings and so much more.

About 1/3 of working women are working moms. (US Census Bureau)
Of the 23.5 million working moms, about 66% of them work full-time and year-round.
76% of working moms are between the ages of 30 and 49. (US Census Bureau)
Women with children average higher earnings ($44,190) than the average of all women combined ($42,295). (US Census Bureau)
The most common types of jobs for working moms include healthcare, education, and social services (making up 40% of all jobs). (US Census Bureau)
1.3 million women with children under 18 are teachers, and 1.1 million are registered nurses. (US Census Bureau)

Related Article: Stay At Home Mom Statistics

Facts on Balancing Work and Kids

Society has a lot to say about working parents. Read on to get the various perceptions of working parents and how raising children impacts their jobs. Not surprisingly, moms and dads have different concerns and different expectations when it comes to work/life balance.

77% of adults say women have a lot of pressure on them to be involved parents, while only 49% say the same about men. (Pew Research)
76% of people say men face a lot of pressure to financially support their families, while only 40% say women experience pressure to support the family. (Pew Research)
As of 2018, 89% of fathers work. (Pew Research)
53% of moms say it’s harder to be a good parent because they work, and 51% of dads say the same thing. (Pew Research)
50% of moms say advancing in their career is harder because they are a parent, and 39% of dads agree that advancing in their career is negatively impacted by being a parent. (Pew Research)
11% of fathers and 8% of mothers say working makes it easier to be a good parent. (Pew Research)
Nearly half of working parents said they felt they needed to reduce their working hours because they have children. (Pew Research)
43% of fathers and 51% of mothers said they could not give 100% at work because of their role as parents. (Pew Research)
15% of fathers and 23% of mothers have turned down a promotion because they have children. (Pew Research)
Some parents (16%) say they have been passed over for promotion because they are working moms/dads. (Pew Research)
20% of dads and 27% of moms say they have been treated as though they don’t take work seriously because of their parenting status. (Pew Research)
82% of dads say it’s best that they work full-time, and 7% say it would be best if they weren’t working for pay at all. (Pew Research)
51% of women say it’s best that they are full-time working moms, and 30% say it’s best for them to work part-time. (Pew Research)
76% of Americans say it is ideal for dads to work full-time and only 33% say it’s ideal for moms to be full-time. (Pew Research)

Working Moms: Then & Now

It used to be that really no one had to “go to work”. Men were primarily responsible for farming land and working with livestock, while women were in charge of the house. Women cared for the children, prepared food, and kept the house. However, as societies evolved, more specialized work was demanded. Yet for many years, men went out to work, and women stayed in the home. By now, the makeup of the workforce has changed drastically. The statistics about working moms below give us a fascinating insight into how much the roles of men and women have changed over the years.

Women that have achieved their doctorates are more likely to be mothers now than 20 years ago. (In 2014 80% of women with doctorates had given birth, compared to just 65% in 1994.) (Pew Research)
Women are becoming mothers later in life. In 2014 the average age a woman had her first child was 26, and in 1994 the average age was just 23. (Pew Research)
Moms are working more hours on average than they were in the past. In 2016 the average mother worked 25 hours per week and in 1965 only 10 hours per week. (Pew Research)
In 2018, 72% of moms with children under the age of 18 worked outside of the home. In 1975, only 47% of mothers held paying jobs. (Pew Research)
As of 2015, four out of ten US families have a mother who makes more money than the father. (Pew Research)
As of 2018, 55% of US mothers with children 18 years or younger work full-time jobs. In 1968, only 34% of moms worked full-time. (Pew Research)
In homes with both a father and mother present, 47% have both parents working full-time, which is an increase from just 31% in 1970. (Pew Research)

Percentage of Women In Certain Jobs

98% of speech-language pathologists are women (and I’m one of them!). (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics)
Women make up 93% of dental assistants. (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics)
82% of social workers are women. (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics)
The field of physical therapy is made up of 69% females. (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics)
60% of pharmacists are women. (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics)
Just 36% of all lawyers are female. (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics)
Only 11% of civil engineers are women. (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics)
1% of HVAC and refrigeration mechanics and installers are women. (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics)

Working Parents Around the World

In a 2020 study done by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average paid maternity leave in the 38 member countries is 18 weeks for mothers. (OECD)
Of the 38 countries in the OECD, the United States is the only country that does not offer a statutory entitlement for paid parental leave. In the US it is only required that companies allow families to take 12 weeks off, but it may be unpaid. (OECD)
Bulgaria has the best maternity leave, allowing up to 58.6 weeks and getting an average of 90% of their regular pay. Greece has 43 weeks of paid maternity leave but workers get about 49% of their regular pay. In the United Kingdom mothers are offered 39 weeks with 30% of their regular pay. These are the minimum number of weeks for parents to take off when they have a baby. (OECD)
Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Austria, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain all pay their employees 100% of their earnings during their maternity leave. In Croatia and Chile, they get 30 weeks of leave, and in Portugal 6. (OECD)
In Chile and Austria, mothers are required to take several weeks off before they give birth (6 weeks in Chile and 8 weeks in Austria). (OECD)
There are about 2 billion mothers in the world, and 85.4 million in the US. (Sound Vision)
The average range for moms to start a family is slowly increasing. In developing countries, the average is close to 29 year olds, while the average age in the US is 25. (Sound Vision)
The five countries with the best maternal health are Norway, Australia, Iceland Sweden, and Denmark. (Sound Vision)
The worst five countries for maternal healthcare are Afghanistan, Niger, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, and Yemen. (Sound Vision)

The Benefits of Working Moms on Their Children

The daughter of an employed woman is 1.21 times more likely to have a job herself. (Harvard Business School)
A woman who had a working mom growing up spends 44 minutes more at work per week. (Harvard Business School)
Females that grew up with working moms are 1.29 times more likely to be in a supervisory role. (Harvard Business School)
Daughters of working women earn more than women who had stay-at-home moms. (Harvard Business School)
Sons of working moms spend 50 minutes more per week caring for family members than their counterparts. (Harvard Business School)
Both sons and daughters of working moms have more education than folks that had unemployed mothers. (Harvard Business School)