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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of people who wash their hands and surfaces often when preparing food — FS‑07 Data

National Status: Baseline only

  
Learn more about our data release schedule

Most Recent Data:
68.7 percent (2019)

National Target:
71.4 percent  1

Desired Direction:
Increase desired

National Baseline:
68.7 percent of adults aged 18 and over reported washing their hands with soap before starting to prepare food in 2019 2

Disparities data are only available for some selections.

View CI in the chart by hovering over a data point.

View SE in the chart by hovering over a data point.

Confidence Interval (CI) not available Standard Error (SE) not available Confidence Interval (CI) and Standard Error (SE) are not available

Display data for:

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation, 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
Total
68.7
CI 66.8 / 70.6
SE 0.982

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Sex, 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
Male
64.3
CI 61.2 / 67.5
SE 1.607
Female
72.7
CI 70.4 / 75.0
SE 1.175

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Race/Ethnicity, 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
American Indian or Alaska Native only
DSU
Asian only
66.8
CI 58.0 / 75.6
SE 4.492
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander only
DSU
Black or African American only
77.7
CI 71.9 / 83.6
SE 2.972
White only
65.5
CI 63.3 / 67.8
SE 1.141
2 or more races
80.9
CI 70.2 / 91.6
SE 5.455
Hispanic or Latino
78.9
CI 73.1 / 84.7
SE 2.950
Not Hispanic or Latino
66.6
CI 64.5 / 68.6
SE 1.047
American Indian or Alaska Native only, not Hispanic or Latino
DNA
Asian only, not Hispanic or Latino
DNA
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander only, not Hispanic or Latino
DNA
Black or African American only, not Hispanic or Latino
DNA
White only, not Hispanic or Latino
DNA
2 or more races, not Hispanic or Latino
DNA

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Age group, 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
18-30 years
62.4
CI 56.7 / 68.0
SE 2.890
31-50 years
68.8
CI 65.2 / 72.3
SE 1.819
51-60 years
71.6
CI 67.6 / 75.6
SE 2.029
61 years and over
70.3
CI 67.6 / 72.9
SE 1.336

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Educational attainment (25 years and over), 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
Less than High school
73.3
CI 63.1 / 83.4
SE 5.163
High school
70.3
CI 66.7 / 74.0
SE 1.859
Some college or Associate degree
71.5
CI 68.1 / 75.0
SE 1.759
4-year college degree or more
62.5
CI 59.5 / 65.4
SE 1.507

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Household income, 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
<$25,000
73.6
CI 68.5 / 78.7
SE 2.582
$25,000-<$35,000
69.3
CI 62.8 / 75.8
SE 3.311
$35,000-<$50,000
72.2
CI 66.2 / 78.2
SE 3.071
$50,000-<$75,000
65.4
CI 60.3 / 70.4
SE 2.597
$75,000-<$100,000
63.1
CI 57.0 / 69.2
SE 3.103
$100,000-<$150,000
63.8
CI 58.4 / 69.1
SE 2.716
$150,000+
64.8
CI 59.5 / 70.2
SE 2.711

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Health insurance status (18-64 years), 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
Health insurance status (18-64 years)
DNC

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Geographic location, 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
Metropolitan
68.6
CI 66.5 / 70.7
SE 1.067
Non-metropolitan
69.2
CI 64.3 / 74.1
SE 2.520

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Marital status (18 years and over), 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
Marital status (18 years and over)
DNC

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Country of birth, 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
Country of birth
DNC

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Veteran status (20 years and over), 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
Veteran status (20 years and over)
DNC

Consumers who wash hands and surfaces often during food preparation by Disability status, 2019 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2019
Disability status
DNC

Disparity