FIGURE 7

Supportive Workplaces and Paid Leave Enable Fathers to Take Leave, While Cost and Career Worries Are Barriers

Share of fathers citing each factor as a major or minor reason they did or did not take leave

Based on responses from 734 fathers who took paid or unpaid leave and 977 fathers who wanted to take leave but did not. Ns are unweighted. Leave includes time off for a birth or adoption or to care for a child or adult.
Source: Survey of 3,345 U.S. adults, with an oversample of men and fathers, drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel and a nonprobability sample from Dynata; conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for New America’s Better Life Lab, April 6–20, 2026.