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Share of U.S. opposite-sex marriages, by earning arrangement

Data: Pew Research Center; Note: "Roughly the same" refers to each spouse earning 40%-60% of the couple’s joint earnings. "Earning more" refers to an individual earning over 60% of the couple’s joint earnings or being the sole person earning; Chart: Axios Visuals

In a growing share of opposite-sex marriages, husbands and wives earn about the same income, according to a newly released Pew Research Center analysis of government data.

Why it matters: At first glance this looks like the U.S. is inching closer to gender equality. But these marriages, which Pew calls "egalitarian," are still unbalanced when it comes to unpaid work — with wives spending more time on caregiving and housework.

Zoom out: Decades ago, a Berkeley professor wrote "The Second Shift," a book about the work women perform outside of their paying jobs.

This care work only intensified during the pandemic era, and though remote work has afforded some Americans the ability to balance work and home life, the gap still lingers.

Details: The Pew analysis finds that husbands spend an average of 3.5 hours more than their spouses per week on leisure activities; and wives spend about 2 more hours on caregiving; and roughly 2.5 hours more on housework. (See the chart below.)

Even in marriages where the wife is the primary breadwinner, earning 60% or more of the income, husbands spend less time on housework and caregiving.

It's only in marriages where the wife is the sole breadwinner — 6% of couples overall — that husbands spend more time caring for others than their wives, Pew finds.

Hours spent each week on select activities in U.S. "egalitarian" marriages

Data: Pew Research Center; Note: Egalitarian marriages are when each spouse earns 40%-60% of the couple’s joint earnings; Chart: Simran Parwani/Axios

There are important demographic differences when it comes to how couples earn their money.

Black women, women with college degrees or with fewer children are more likely to be in egalitarian marriages.

The bottom line: A lot of the differences here are tied up with cultural expectations for men and women. Separate research has found that same-sex couples divide chores more equally.

In a separate survey, Pew finds that a majority of Americans say society values men's contributions at work more than their contributions at home.

For women, the results were more of a mishmash. 49% of Americans said the contributions women make at home and work are valued equally, while about a third said a woman's contributions at home are of more value.

Editor's note: This story was originally published on April 13. 

Marriages are becoming more "egalitarian." Just not with housework

The gap still lingers in the WFH era, which has afforded some Americans the ability to balance work and home life.

Gender equality

Labor Market

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Whats Next

Axios What's Next

The go-to favorite cuisine of Americans used to be Italian, but increasingly it's Latin American and Tex-Mex food like tacos, quesadillas and birrias — with Asian food next on the horizon, per Datassential, a restaurant-menu consultancy.

Why it matters: The dramatic rise in the U.S. Latino population is reshaping the national palate — and sending restaurant operators south of the border (or thereabouts) to freshen up their menus. 

Driving the news: An analysis of the 4,500 new menu items released at major restaurant chains last year found that Americans are craving cheesy, spicy foods with Latin-inspired ingredients and preparations.

The 10 fastest-growing items on U.S. menus include birria (a Mexican meat stew), chicken taco salad, and dishes made with Tajín, a seasoning of chile peppers, lime and sea salt.

The #1 menu addition? Ranch Water, a summery cocktail of tequila, lime and Topo Chico sparkling water, per Datassential.

Tequila is poised to overtake vodka as the country's top-selling spirit, while margaritas have become the most popular cocktail.

What they're saying: "When we work with [restaurant] clients, if they're going to ask about what flavors to put on the menu, it's probably going to be Latin," says Mike Kostyo, the "trendologist" at Datassential who analyzed 2022's menus.

"And if it's not that, it's probably going to be Asian."

The big picture: For the longest time, Italian food was America's favorite — bring on the pizza and pasta!

Then came the millennials, "the first generation to actually prefer Mexican cuisine over Italian cuisine," Kostyo says.

Now comes Gen Z, "the first generation to prefer both Mexican and Chinese cuisine over Italian cuisine."

"Previously, you had spaghetti or pizza on the menu as go-to comfort food. Now you're probably going to put a taco on the menu," Kostyo tells Axios.

Where it stands: Demographic changes — which translate to shifts in childhood favorites and adult preferences — are reflected in our evolving appetites.

"Look at college campuses today," Kostyo says. In the food court, "there's going to be an Asian bowl; there's probably going to be a taco and a burrito."

"The things that young people are growing up with as the norm are so different from 20-30 years ago."

How it works: Datassential maintains a database of 40,000 food and drink items at big restaurant chains, and asks consumers to rate the new additions based on the menu description, picture and price.

Consumers score the dishes in categories like "uniqueness" and whether they would order them. 

Restaurateurs use the scores to "concept test" new dishes or revamp tired offerings.

🌮 What we like: The dishes ranking highest in consumer appeal in 2022 included a number of "limited time offers" (LTOs, in industry parlance), such as the Barbacoa Quesadilla Benedict from breakfast/lunch chain First Watch and the Orange Chicken Sandwich Bao from Panda Express. (Read Datassential's report.) 

Cheese was the #1 ingredient added to new menu items last year.

"Fresh" was the most popular menu descriptor, ahead of "delicious," "real," "rich" and "housemade."

Weirdness works: There's heightened demand for oddball flavor combinations and sweet-and-salty mashups, driven in part by younger consumers seeking novelty.

Ghost peppers are all the rage — jalapeños are now considered a bit of a yawn.

The apotheosis of the trends? Baskin-Robbins' "Spicy 'n Spooky" ice cream — a limited-time flavor made with ghost pepper, white and dark chocolate, and blood orange flakes, and released before Halloween.

📈 On the rise: The top-growing term on menus in the past four years: "keto."

📉 On the decline: The word "calorie" dropped 37% on menus in the past year — as did "free refills." 😢

Espresso martinis are in — especially the parmesan espresso martini that's taken TikTok by storm.

But don't dare order an Appletini or it'll date you — so 1990s.  

Of note: 17 Latino chefs are finalists for the James Beard Chef and Restaurant awards this year, a sign of increasing openness to diverse cuisines among culinary gatekeepers, as Axios Latino reports. 

The bottom line: The Latin and Tex-Mex food boom is everywhere you look — and, given that such dishes produce high profit margins for restaurants, very likely to stick around.

Editor's note: This story was originally published on April 14.

Latin and Tex-Mex overtake Italian as America's go-to food order

Latin and Tex-Mex food is nudging out Italian as America's preferred comfort food.

Illustration of the Earth wearing a chef's hat. 

Restaurants

Latino

Axios Latino

Flat mesas, the Rio Grande and praying in Spanish along an isolated road: These are some themes crooned about by Latino artists who have headed for Nashville to pursue becoming country stars.

The big picture: Country music's popularity has soared among U.S. Hispanics, and a new generation of Latino singers is transforming this historically white-dominated industry.

There was a 25% increase in Hispanic country music listeners between 2006 to 2016, compared to a 7% increase in white listeners for the same period, according to the Country Music Association.

Details: Valerie Ponzio, raised in El Paso, Texas, and and Frank Ray, born in Deming, New Mexico, are among the Latino country music artists turning heads.

Kat & Alex, a Cuban American and Puerto Rican married duo, sing soulful bilingual tunes about family, buying a home and looking for love in a bar.

Louie TheSinger of Fort Worth, Texas, switched from R&B to recording country after a stint in prison. The Mexican American artist sings about Latinos' link to country music.

Frank Ray performs onstage at the New Faces of Country Music Dinner during CRS 2023 at Omni Nashville Hotel on March 15, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Frank Ray performs onstage at the New Faces of Country Music Dinner during CRS 2023 at Omni Nashville Hotel on March 15, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo: Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images

Yes, but: Although Latino country fans boost concert ticket sales in places such as El Paso or the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Latinos account for only a tiny fraction of country artists and get little airtime.

But, but, but: Emerging artists are circumventing traditional radio and gaining millions of plays on streaming services like Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music.

For example, Frank Ray's "Country'd Look Good On You" has had over 6 million listens on Spotify since it was released in 2021.

Background: Country music has always had Latino artists, from Freddy Fender to Johnny Rodriguez, but they faced obstacles in getting airtime at a time when radio was the only avenue for success, and hits were few and far between.

Fender's record producer Huey Meaux said in the 2009 Latin Music PBS documentary that Fender was discriminated against in the industry, even after his 1975 #1 hit, "Before the Next Tear Drop Falls."

Kat Luna and Alex Garrido of Kat & Alex perform during Got Your 6 VetFest hosted by The Bob Woodruff Foundation at The Loveless Barn on July 09, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Kat Luna and Alex Garrido of Kat & Alex perform during Got Your 6 VetFest hosted by The Bob Woodruff Foundation at The Loveless Barn on July 09, 2022, in Nashville. Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for the Bob Woodruff Foundation

What they're saying: "I was definitely a child of the 2000s pop-country diva boom — Shania Twain and The Chicks. When I was going through a time of grief, I wanted to just listen to country music," Ponzio, 38, tells Axios.

Ponzio appeared on NBC's "The Voice" and won the elusive "four-chair turn" from Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, who all wanted her on their teams.

"There's this coded language about what are you doing in country music, you don't belong. But when I hit that stage and I'm playing my country songs, playing my Selena country cover, people are insanely receptive."

Growing up in San Antonio, Texas, after leaving New Mexico, Ray said he constantly listened to country radio and was attracted to the storytelling.

After 10 years as a police officer in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Ray, 36, decided to pursue country music full-time.

"We sprinkle in a bunch of Latino influence and stuff when we get on stage. But the fact that we can play country music and do it justice really surprises a lot of people. Then the fun starts."

What to watch: Warner Music Nashville recently gathered pop Latin artists with notable country artists for a four-day collaboration, Stephanie Davenport, senior director of A&R, tells Axios Latino. 

"I think thematically and lyrically there are a lot of parallels between Latin culture and country music — love of family, love in general, the belief in seizing the moment and in seizing the day."

Subscribe to Axios Latino to get vital news about Latinos and Latin America, delivered to your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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Country music's next stars are Latino

Country music's popularity has soared among U.S. Hispanics, and Latino singers are taking their shot in the industry

Axios

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