Shoes Off Indoors? A Deeper Look at What the Science Really Says
September 12, 2026 — 65Nation
It is one of those house rules that can quietly divide a family right down the middle. Shoes on or shoes off? Turns out, plenty of American households are wrestling with the exact same question.
According to a 2023 CBS News/YouGov survey, two out of three Americans say they take off their shoes in their own home. So if you have always done it, you are in good company.
When we ran that story this week, it became our most-read article of the week. It also left a few questions sitting on the doormat. What exactly rides in on a shoe sole? Is going barefoot the better answer? And how do you make the request of a guest who has every reason to keep their shoes on? So, we went looking.
What Science Says About Shoe Soles
Here is the part that makes most people pause. A 2023 study published in Indoor and Built Environment found that all shoe soles carried contamination: bacteria, fungi, and fecal matter. All of it transferred indoors when people walked inside. Carpet was a particularly effective magnet for the mess.
The researchers, chemist Alessandra Leri, PhD, of Marymount Manhattan College and her co-author Marjan Khan, sampled New York City sidewalks first, then the shoes of student volunteers, then the floors of their own college building. The bacteria they tracked, enterococci, live in the intestines of warm-blooded animals, which is a polite way of saying the source was dog waste and whatever else the city leaves on its pavement. Carpets in busy hallways were far worse than hard floors in quiet corners.
Lead author Leri put it plainly, as quoted in Smithsonian Magazine:
“Taking your shoes off is a no-brainer.”
She added a detail that anyone with grandchildren will want to hear. The finding that concerned her most was the exposure for babies crawling on carpets and toddlers who put everything they find on the floor into their mouths.
Her results echo older work. In a study conducted with the Rockport shoe company, microbiologist Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona found an average of 421,000 units of bacteria on the outside of a shoe. Coliform bacteria, the kind that come from fecal matter, turned up on 96 percent of the shoes tested, and E. coli on 27 percent. When volunteers walked across clean tile, 90 percent or more of the bacteria transferred to the floor, and Gerba’s team could still find plenty of organisms 10 to 20 steps in. He also cited research showing that children under 2 bring hands, toys, or something else to their mouths about 80 times an hour while they play.
Beyond the germ factor, shoes track in the everyday stuff: mud, dirt, leaves, water, snow, and whatever else you stepped through on the way to your front door. Less of that inside means less mopping for you.
More Than Germs Ride In on a Sole
Two environmental chemists who have spent a decade studying what accumulates inside homes, Mark Patrick Taylor of Australia’s EPA Victoria and Gabriel Filippelli of Indiana University, took up this exact question in The Conversation. Their verdict: on shoes on versus shoes off, the science leans toward off.
Their reasoning goes well past bacteria. About a third of the matter that builds up inside a home comes from outdoors, they wrote, either blown in or carried in on shoes. Their measurements of homes across 35 countries found a strong connection between the lead in a home’s yard soil and the lead on its floors, and the most likely explanation is dirt tracked in on shoes and on the paws of pets. Lead has no smell and no color, so there is no way to spot it on a living room floor. Residue from asphalt roads and chemicals from treated lawns made their list of unwelcome passengers too.
Where does it all land? Right where you would expect. Leri’s team found the germs concentrated in the entryway. The University of Georgia’s cooperative extension service, which puts the outdoor share of indoor contaminants at 30 to 40 percent, notes that the heaviest concentration of household dust sits in the carpeting nearest the door. Whatever your policy, that first stretch of floor inside the entrance deserves the most attention.
The Other Side of the Argument
Here is the honest flip side. That same two-thirds who go shoeless at home? Two-thirds of them said they do not require guests to do the same. Most folks simply do not ask.
The reluctance grows with age, according to the same CBS News poll. Nearly half of adults under 30 said they ask guests to remove their shoes. Very few adults 45 and older said the same, even among those who go shoeless themselves. If you have never once asked a visitor to take off their shoes, you are squarely in the mainstream.
And guests may have real reasons to keep their shoes on. Balance. Mobility. A medical condition. Some people also build their whole outfit around their shoes and there is nothing wrong with that.
There is the embarrassment factor too. Worn socks, foot odor, or just not feeling ready to bare your feet in someone else’s home, it is a real and understandable concern for plenty of people.
The germ argument has its skeptics as well. Theodore Muth, a biologist at Brooklyn College who did not take part in Leri’s study, told Gothamist that fecal bacteria on a carpet does not necessarily mean a greater risk of illness, since most E. coli infections come from contaminated food rather than floors or shoe soles. Even Taylor and Filippelli acknowledge that a little dirt probably helps the immune system. Their suggestion is to get that exposure on a walk outdoors instead of from street shoes on the sofa.
On the germ front, mopping does help. One study found that mopping removed about 80 percent of the bacteria on a floor, while disinfecting removed roughly 99 percent. There is a catch worth knowing. That research was done on hospital ward floors, and the same researchers found that areas exposed to foot traffic were often just as contaminated an hour later as they had been before cleaning. Mopping works. It works best when less is coming in.
Bare Feet Are Their Own Question
Here is the part this week’s article left out, and it matters more for your feet than for your floors. Shoes off does not have to mean barefoot.
Researchers at the Institute for Aging Research, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, followed 765 Boston-area residents, most of them 70 or older, for about two and a half years as part of a federally funded study of falls called MOBILIZE Boston. When participants fell inside their own homes, more than half were barefoot, in socks, or in slippers at the time. Only about one in ten had described that as their usual footwear. Those who fell shoeless or in slippers had more than twice the odds of a serious injury compared with those who fell in regular shoes.
Marian Hannan, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and one of the study’s authors, said the findings support adding advice about wearing shoes whenever possible to fall prevention programs.
The National Institute on Aging says much the same in plain terms: choose nonskid, rubber-soled, low-heeled shoes, and skip walking on stairs or floors in socks or in slippers with smooth soles. Backless shoes make its list of footwear that raises the risk of a fall. Mayo Clinic’s fall prevention guidance warns about stocking feet and floppy slippers for the same reason. A systematic review published in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development landed in the same place: low heels and firm, slip-resistant soles are the safest choice both inside and outside the home.
So the cleanest answer to the shoes question may be a second pair. Taylor and Filippelli suggest exactly that for anyone who wants foot support indoors: house shoes that never go outside. A pair with a closed back and a sole that grips keeps the street off your floors and keeps your footing sure on the kitchen tile. Park them by the door next to the bench and the shoe rack, and the switch takes about ten seconds.
How to Handle It Without the Awkwardness
The good news? Ninety percent of respondents in that CBS News poll said they would not consider it an unreasonable request if a host asked them to remove their shoes. Most people are just fine with it as long as you ask nicely.
The etiquette experts agree on timing. Back in 2008, Dear Abby told a reader that proper etiquette is for hosts to let guests know about a shoes-off preference before the visit, so they can dress with that in mind. The Emily Post Institute has offered the same guidance, noting that nobody likes being told to remove their shoes when they are unprepared for it, and suggesting a few pairs of disposable slippers by the door for guests who did not get the word.
A few things worth thinking through before you set a policy:
- The occasion matters. Asking a casual visitor to remove their shoes is perfectly fine. Asking guests at a formal dinner or holiday gathering can feel out of place.
- Know your guest. Never ask someone to do something that might cause them difficulty, whether that is a mobility issue, a medical need, or anything else. If a friend keeps their shoes on for steadiness, that is the right call, and the research on falls backs them up.
- The season changes things. Wet winter boots are a different story from summer sandals. When the Minnesota Star Tribune asked its readers about the custom, the picture was clear: shoe-removal requests peak in winter, when slush and road salt come in on every boot, and the columnist’s advice was to keep new socks or slippers on hand for anyone who forgot to bring their own.
- How you ask counts. A small sign by the door, a friendly mention as guests arrive, or a word ahead of time all work well. Catching someone halfway through your entryway is not the best approach. A simple “We are a shoes-off house, but please keep yours on if you would rather” covers both the request and the graceful exit.
- Make it easy. A bench to sit on, a mat or rack for shoes, and (as many Minnesota households do) a basket of clean guest socks near the door can go a long way toward making it comfortable. Taylor recommends two doormats, one outside the door and one just inside, so the worst of what a shoe carries gets left behind before anyone has to make a decision.
And if you are the guest? Several of those Star Tribune readers said they now travel with slippers when they visit friends in winter. A quick “Shoes on or off?” at the door costs nothing and settles the matter before it becomes one.
And If Someone Says No?
You accept it graciously. It is their body, and this is not worth a friendship or a marriage. The overwhelming majority of etiquette comes down to one thing: making the people around you feel comfortable and welcome. That goes for the shoes-off request and for the response when someone declines.
As for the verdict? It is not rude to ask as long as you ask politely, stay flexible, and are genuinely ready to hear no for an answer.
