Most Americans like to take their shoes off when they relax at home, but they don’t demand the same for their guests. A majority of Americans don’t ask their guests to remove their shoes when they come to visit, and this is particularly true of older Americans.
Overall, nearly two in three Americans are “shoes off” people when it comes to their own homes, while just over a third are “shoes on” people.
Still, most don’t have a “shoes off” policy for their guests. Relatively few Americans require their guests to remove their shoes upon entering their homes. This is even true among most who take their own shoes off at home: two thirds still don’t ask guests to remove their shoes when visiting even when they themselves do so.
The preference for taking off one’s shoes while at home cuts across demographic lines, though Americans over 45 are a bit more likely to keep their shoes on at home than younger Americans. There’s more of a generational divide when it comes to guests — while nearly half of adults under thirty will ask guests to remove their shoes, very few adults 45 and older will do the same — even when they don’t when shoes inside themselves.
Still, those who prefer people not wear shoes in their homes might not need to be quite so accommodating to their guests. Nearly all Americans — whether “shoes on” or “shoes off” people — say they would consider it a reasonable request if someone asked them to remove their shoes while visiting their home.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,181 U.S. adult residents interviewed between May 11-15, 2023. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as the 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error is ±4.2 points.
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in
for more features.
