american minute.

When do Americans relax and socialize?

On an average weekday, the share of Americans relaxing or socializing peaks at 8:45 PM, when 52.8% of people age 15 and older (about 132.7 million) are relaxing or socializing. On weekends it peaks at 8:45 PM (58.1%). Averaged over all days, Americans spend 4 hr 40 min a day relaxing or socializing.

See leisure & socializing minute by minute ↗

12 AM6 AM12 PM6 PM12 AM
Share of Americans relaxing or socializing, by local time. Solid: weekdays. Dashed: weekends. Scale: 0–58.1%.

Leisure & socializing by hour

Share and number of Americans relaxing or socializing at the top of each hour.

TimeWeekdaysPeopleWeekendsPeople
12 AM7.7%19.4 million9.5%23.8 million
1 AM4.0%9.9 million4.9%12.4 million
2 AM2.2%5.4 million2.6%6.5 million
3 AM1.4%3.6 million1.7%4.3 million
4 AM1.4%3.6 million1.6%3.9 million
5 AM2.3%5.8 million2.0%5.1 million
6 AM3.9%9.8 million3.3%8.2 million
7 AM6.3%15.8 million6.5%16.3 million
8 AM8.0%20.0 million11.1%27.9 million
9 AM10.3%25.8 million15.7%39.4 million
10 AM12.6%31.7 million19.5%49.1 million
11 AM13.3%33.5 million22.5%56.6 million
12 PM13.6%34.1 million23.3%58.4 million
1 PM15.9%40.0 million27.9%70.2 million
2 PM18.1%45.4 million32.8%82.4 million
3 PM19.7%49.6 million35.7%89.8 million
4 PM22.0%55.3 million37.2%93.6 million
5 PM24.4%61.4 million36.7%92.2 million
6 PM28.6%72.0 million38.1%95.7 million
7 PM37.6%94.6 million45.8%115.2 million
8 PM47.2%118.5 million53.0%133.3 million
9 PM47.9%120.3 million52.3%131.5 million
10 PM34.8%87.4 million38.3%96.2 million
11 PM17.9%44.9 million20.6%51.7 million

What it includes

Average time per weekday, for the activities in this group that take the most time.

  • Television and movies (not religious): 2 hr 31 min a day
  • Socializing and communicating with others: 30 min a day
  • Relaxing, thinking: 19 min a day
  • Reading for personal interest: 18 min a day
  • Playing games: 14 min a day
  • Computer use for leisure (exc. Games): 11 min a day
  • Listening to/playing music (not radio): 2 min a day
  • Arts and crafts as a hobby: 2 min a day

More

About these numbers

Estimates come from all 258,954 diaries in the American Time Use Survey (Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau), 2003–2025, weighted to the U.S. civilian population age 15 and older and pooled across years. Times are local clock time. Counts are people on an average day of that type, not a live count. Weekdays are Monday–Friday. How the estimates work.