Differently Educated US Couples and Their Work‐Family Arrangements, 1968–2023

Objective This brief report examines how couples' education pairings relate to their work‐family arrangements in the United States from 1968 to 2023, focusing on differently educated couples. Background The reversal of the gender gap in education has increased couples where women have more education than their male partners, with implications for how couples divide paid and unpaid labor; yet research on historical trends in work‐family arrangements has often overlooked the gendered nature of educational resources within couples. Method Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (1968–2023), we categorize couples into six work‐family arrangements and analyze the changing associations between education pairings and work‐family arrangements over time using multinomial logistic regression models. Results Work‐family arrangements are stratified by gender and education. Hypogamous couples show a higher likelihood of her‐second‐shift and egalitarian arrangements with a declining probability of male‐breadwinner arrangements. Hypergamous couples maintain the highest male‐breadwinner probability and are underrepresented where women's labor market participation equals or exceeds men's. Hypogamous and hypergamous patterns appear across all educational levels but are most pronounced at completion thresholds, particularly college graduation. Among egalitarian and her‐second‐shift arrangements, educational gradients are stronger and more continuous across levels among hypogamous than hypergamous couples. Implications Educational resources operate distinctly by gender within couples, underscoring the importance of distinguishing between differently educated couples rather than using gender‐neutral measures of couple‐level education when studying work‐family dynamics.