Are Homeowners Really Using Their Dishwasher Less? Here's What We Found

You can find any number of articles bemoaning the quiet disappearance of dishwashers from American homes. More people, so the story goes, are resorting to hand-washing their dishes, despite the fact that dishwashers use far less water and are more energy efficient than washing dishes by hand. Is it true that homeowners are really using their dishwashers less? We reviewed the data since 2005 from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey, published twice a decade by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. What we found: Reports of the death of the dishwasher are greatly exaggerated.

Efficiency standards for dishwashers are too strict, the argument goes, resulting in dishwashers becoming too slow, needing replacing more quickly, and being less effective at cleaning. This has led to people resorting to the less efficient method of washing their dishes by hand, meaning (so say the critics) those increasingly strict efficiency standards have backfired. Relaxing them would mean people would use their dishwashers more. A compelling argument indeed — if it were based in fact. As it turns out: A higher percentage of Americans own and use a dishwasher than any time in the 21^st century, the percentage of dishwasher owners who say they don't use it hasn't increased, and the plurality of Americans surveyed still hang on to their dishwashers for 5 to 9 years.

The benefits of using a dishwasher are obvious, but do people take advantage of them? Dishwashers are certainly used less frequently compared to other home appliances like clothes washers, microwaves, and stoves. And they are less likely to be used by people who own them. That should be obvious, given that the alternative to the dishwasher (washing by hand) is far more convenient than washing clothes by hand or cooking without an appliance.

Dishwasher efficiency standards have increased over time, with the latest increase in 2023, which the U.S Department of Energy stated would save Americans millions of dollars in energy and water bills. Today, an energy efficient dishwasher with an Energy Star symbol can use 12% less energy and 30% less water. You can save even more money and energy by disabling the drying function: For a dishwasher, drying the dishes is harder than washing them. Many dishwashers also come with an "eco mode," which optimizes energy and water use. Have dishwashers become slower? The fastest residential dishwashers can do their cleaning in under an hour, some as low as 10 minutes.

Yes, dishwashers are the better option, and Americans know that: The percentage of Americans owning dishwashers has increased since 2005. Back then, Americans who said they used a dishwasher outnumbered those who said they didn't by roughly a 3 to 2 ratio. Over the next 15 years, the gap between those who do use and those who don't has steadily widened. By 2020, Americans who said they owned a dishwasher outnumbered those who said they didn't by 2.6 to 1. The percentage of people surveyed in single-family detached units who said they didn't own or use a dishwasher at all dropped from nearly 25% in 2009 to 15.8% in 2020. Dishwashers are more popular than ever, and are still a useful appliance for millions of Americans.