The common debate: do you wash dishes before putting them in the dishwasher? A CivicScience survey finds that 38% of U.S. adults say they ‘always’ wash dishes first, 40% say they ‘sometimes’ do if the dishes are really dirty, and 22% say ‘no—that’s what the dishwasher is for’ (among those who wash dishes, excluding ‘does not apply’).
Millennials are the most likely to always wash their dishes first, while Gen Z leads in saying they don’t. Lower-income households stand out on both ends of the spectrum, being the most likely to ‘always’ wash dishes and the most likely to skip washing altogether. City dwellers lean toward always pre-washing, while rural residents tend to load dishes without rinsing. In regional differences, Midwesterners are the most likely to always wash, while Northeasterners are most likely to never wash first.
But demographics aren’t the only thing setting these dishwashing groups apart:
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Home Security: Those who ‘always’ pre-wash are 10 percentage points more likely than non-washers to use or plan to buy a home security system.
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Media Habits: ‘Always’ washers are roughly twice as likely as ‘never’ washers to listen to the radio daily.
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BNPL Intent: Those who ‘never’ pre-wash are three times more likely to say they intend to use Buy Now, Pay Later services.
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Recycling: Nearly half of ‘always’ washers recycle at home every chance they get, compared to 29% of those who don’t wash before loading the dishwasher.
The dishwasher debate may seem small, but the data shows it connects to larger lifestyle differences. From recycling and security systems to spending and media habits, how people handle their dirty dishes reveals surprising patterns in how they live day to day.
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This article’s data comes solely from CivicScience’s database, which contains nearly 700,000 poll questions and 5 billion consumer insights.