Lunch is often a wildcard meal. Hitting in the middle of the day–likely when you’re focused on other tasks–it often creates a fork in the road: do you stop what you’re doing and eat, or do you keep trudging on, sneaking bites while you make a little more progress on your to-do list? 

According to recent CivicScience data, 33% of Americans with a job work through their lunch ‘often,’ while 30% only do it ‘sometimes.’ On the other end of the spectrum, 15% say they’ll work through lunch in an ‘emergency,’ while 22% say they ‘never’ do this. Clearly, sentiment is split. 

A look at top-line demographic data shows that those who make $100K+ annually are more likely than lower-income earners to do a working lunch more frequently, outpacing all others by at least 11 percentage points. Parents are also at least 8 percentage points more likely than grandparents and non-parents to say they ‘often’ work during lunch–perhaps so they can better respond to family responsibilities at the end of the day. 

However, this is just the start of what sets those who ‘often’ work through their lunch apart from those who ‘never’ do: 

Stress Levels: While 35% of those who have worked through lunch say they work best under pressure, just 15% of those who ‘never’ work through lunch say the same. 

Job Sector: Those who ‘often’ work through their lunch break are five percentage points more likely to work for the government or military as those who ‘never’ do this (13% vs 8%). 

Employer Trust: More than one-in-three (38%) of those who ‘often’ work through their lunch say they trust the company they work for ‘a lot.’ Fewer than one-in-four (18%) of those who never work through their lunch break say the same. 

Job Hunting: Those who ‘often’ work through their lunch break are 20 percentage points more likely to look for a new job than those who ‘never’ do this (34% vs 14%). 

Bed Time: While 32% of those who ‘often’ work through their lunch break go to bed between 8pm and 10pm, just 26% of those who ‘never’ do this say the same. 

Clearly, those who work through their lunch break aren’t just doing so for the fun of it. They are working under pressure as they navigate responsibilities, at home and at work, that impact how they move through their jobs and their lives.

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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.