Most Americans like to take off their shoes when relaxing at home, but they don’t demand the same of their guests. Most Americans do not ask their guests to remove their shoes when visiting, and this is especially true of older Americans.
Overall, about three-quarters of Americans “shoe off” in their own homes, while more than a third “shoe on.”
Still, most don’t have a “shoes off” policy for their guests. Relatively few Americans want their guests to take off their shoes when they enter their home. This is true even among the majority who remove their own shoes at home: two thirds still do not ask guests to remove their shoes when they do so themselves.
The preference for taking off shoes while at home cuts across demographic lines, though Americans over 45 are slightly more likely to keep their shoes on at home than younger Americans. There is a generational divide among 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’re not wearing shoes themselves.
Still, those who prefer that people not wear shoes in their house need not be too accommodating for their guests. Almost all Americans—whether “shoes on” or “shoe off” people—say they would consider it a reasonable request if someone asked them to take off their shoes on the way home.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,181 US adult residents interviewed between May 11-15, 2023. The sample was weighted by sex, age, race, and education based on the US Census American Community Survey. Current demographic surveys, as well as 2020 presidential polls. The margin of error is ±4.2 points.
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