About the Chore Split Calculator
This chore split calculator divides household chores fairly between partners, roommates or family members. List each chore with how long it takes, how many times a week it is done and, optionally, an effort rating for unpleasant or physical jobs. Add everyone who shares the work, and the calculator assigns chores so each person’s weekly load is as close to an equal share as possible.
Fair does not always mean equal, so you can give people a weighting — for example 2 for a partner who works part-time and 1 for one who works full-time, or 0.5 for a younger child. The result table lists each person’s chores, minutes per week and share of the total, and the chart compares everyone’s load with their fair target.
Chores are assigned largest first to whoever is furthest below their target, a standard balancing method that usually lands everyone within a few percent of fair. Treat the result as a starting point: swap similar-sized chores to suit preferences, and re-run it when the household or schedule changes.
With the default inputs, the fair share per person (weight 1) is 515 pts/week. Change any value above to recalculate instantly.
How to use the chore split calculator
- 1List each chore on its own line: name, minutes each time, times per week, effort.
- 2List everyone sharing the chores, adding a weight if someone should do more or less.
- 3Choose whether to split by time and effort, or by time only.
- 4Review who does what, each person’s minutes and share of the work.
- 5Swap similar-sized chores to suit preferences, then make it your chore chart.
Formula and method
Each chore gets a weekly workload score: minutes per session × sessions per week, multiplied by an effort rating so that scrubbing a bathroom counts for more than the same time spent folding laundry. Choose “time only” to ignore effort. The total is divided by the sum of everyone’s weights to get the fair share for a weight of 1.
Chores are then assigned using the longest-processing-time greedy method: sort chores from largest to smallest and give each one to the person whose load, after adding it, would be the smallest relative to their weight. This keeps the biggest jobs spread out and usually gets everyone within a few percent of their target. The deviation shown is the largest gap between anyone’s load and their target.
- effort
- Difficulty rating, 1 (easy) to 3 (hard); 1 if blank
- weight
- Share of the work a person should take (default 1)
Worked examples
Two adults, eight weekly chores
Cooking is 45 × 5 × 2 = 450 points and dishes 20 × 7 × 1 = 140; all eight chores total 1,030 points (665 minutes). Alex takes cooking and mopping for 510 points and Sam the other six chores for 520 — both within 1% of the 515-point fair share.
Three roommates, time only
Ignoring effort, the chores add up to 665 minutes a week, or 221.7 minutes each. Assigning largest first gives Jo cooking (225 min), Kim dishes, bathroom, vacuuming and trash (230 min) and Lee laundry, groceries and mopping (210 min); the biggest gap is 11.7 minutes, 5.3% of the fair share.
Parent does twice the share of a teenager
The chores total 140 + 120 + 60 + 30 = 350 points over a combined weight of 3, so the teen’s fair share is 116.7 and the parent’s 233.3. The parent gets dishes and vacuuming (200) plus trash (230); the teen gets laundry (120), about 2.9% over target.
Frequently asked questions
How do you split chores fairly?+
List every chore with how long it takes and how often it is done, give unpleasant jobs a higher effort score, and divide the total so each person gets an equal (or agreed) share of the weekly workload rather than an equal number of chores.
Should chores be split 50/50 between couples?+
Not necessarily. Many couples split by available time, so a partner working fewer paid hours takes a larger share. Use weights, such as 1.5 and 1, to reflect the split you agree on.
How do I account for chores that are harder or more unpleasant?+
Use the effort column. A rating of 2 or 3 counts every minute of that chore double or triple, so 40 minutes of bathroom cleaning at effort 3 weighs the same as two hours of easy chores.
What chores can kids do?+
Younger children can handle tidying toys, setting the table and feeding pets; older kids can do dishes, vacuuming and laundry. Give children a weight below 1 so they get a share suited to their age.
Why is the split not exactly equal?+
Chores are indivisible, so one large chore can leave a small gap. If the deviation is high, split big chores into parts (for example cooking on alternate days) or rotate them weekly.