Should You Let People Wear Shoes In Your House?

Oct 14, 2024

Here's how to tackle this quandary when you don't know where those shoes have been—but you don't want to be rude.

Melanie Mannarino is a freelance writer and editor specializing in lifestyle and wellness. Her work has appeared in Real Simple, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and other national brands, and she's the author of four books, including "The (Almost) Zero-Waste Guide."

You may clean your house like a pro, but keeping it clean when others visit can be challenging. You know that people can track in dirt and germs, but when it comes to asking them to take their shoes off when they visit, you may hesitate. Is it rude to ask?

Regardless of your opinion on wearing shoes inside the house, brace yourself because there's no way to sugarcoat this: The bottoms of our shoes are positively covered with bacteria and viruses. Here's what you need to know about shoes in the house.

Reynolds points out that the germs on your shoes aren't a problem until you come into contact with the bottom of your shoe directly or with the floor they've just walked across. "Think about the cycle of transmission," she says. "Do you have kids crawling around, or do you sit on the floor yourself?"

If you're like most people, you want to stay one step ahead during cold and flu season. But if the tracked-in germs get on your hand, you touch your eyes, nose, or mouth, you've just completed the transmission cycle and increased your chances of getting sick. (Eww.)

If you clean your floors regularly (and don't have crawling children), wearing shoes inside—sometimes—may not be a huge health issue for your family. But here are the contaminants you'll be dealing with regardless.

One University of Arizona study found many harmful bacteria on the inside and outside of shoes. Among the bacteria found was E. coli, which can cause intestinal and urinary tract infections, meningitis, and diarrheal disease. Overall, bacteria were detected on the outside of 96% of the shoes.

"That's more than we find on hands or on floors," says Kelly Reynolds, Ph.D., MSPH, professor, environmental microbiologist, and chair of the department of community, environment, and policy at the University of Arizona. "Shoes are a common vehicle for bringing major contaminants into the home."

And the University of Arizona study didn't just find E. coli on the outside of shoes. It found several other harmful strains of bacteria, including Klebsiella pneumonia, a bacteria that causes pneumonia, and Serratia ficaria, which can cause a large variety of infections.

Bacteria isn't the only thing you might be bringing inside on your footwear. While during allergy season, most allergy sufferers will close windows and run air purifiers, sometimes you forget that shoes can track those pesky particles in as well. The allergens then end up in the air, which negates the measures to avoid letting them in in the first place.

Although lead paint has been banned for years, there is still a significant amount of residual lead in the environment. It flakes off of walls and older toys, gets pulverized into dust, and ends up blending in with the dirt on the ground. Lead poisoning can cause a whole litany of health problems that affect the brain, heart, and other organs and is especially harmful to children and pregnant women.

Wearing shoes in the house becomes an issue when you don't clean your floors often. Regarding the health hazard involved, Reynolds has some bad news. "Contaminants on the floor don't always just stay there," she says. "Bacteria are like magnets—they stick to dust particles, and if a person or a pet stirs up dust on the floor, the bacteria-infused particles can be resuspended in the air, where you can ingest or inhale them and be exposed."

The icing on this disgusting cake? Bacteria and viruses don't die quickly. So the germs the plumber tracked through the kitchen last week might very well still be there today if you haven't cleaned your floors. "It depends on the germ and the humidity, but in general, we know bacteria can survive for days to weeks and viruses for weeks to months," Reynolds says. "Definitely long enough for you to come into contact with them."

You should be vacuuming weekly and cleaning routinely. To cover your bases, look for a cleaner with the word "disinfectant" on the label—it is certified to kill both viruses and bacteria, says Reynolds. Shoe cleaners can not only make your shoes look new again, but they can also keep dirt at bay.

On the other hand, sanitizers are certified to kill only bacteria (but may kill some viruses). "The labeling is very clear," she says. "That industry has done a good job of making things clear for consumers."

People might choose to wear their shoes inside your home for many perfectly sensible reasons. On the other hand, others might find removing shoes completely natural.

There are a bunch of reasons not to let people wear shoes in your house, but people still may want to do it. Some people are uncomfortable taking their shoes off, period. But there are some gentle ways you can try to get guests to take their shoes off in your home without making it awkward.

Even if you don't ask guests to leave their shoes at the door, Reynolds suggests household members get into the habit of doing so. "Take them off at the front door, then carry them to your closet shoe rack or basket," she advises. "Don't track the germs through the entire house." That way, the only time potential contaminants will be brought into the house is when you have company.

With all this information, you might think Reynolds has a strict no-shoes policy in her own home. Actually, she doesn't. "To be honest, I don't ask others to remove shoes," she says. "Most people don't want to walk around your house barefoot."

Some visitors might even have physical ailments that make walking around barefoot difficult or painful. (Of course, all this may not apply if you're part of a culture where removing shoes before entering a home is expected.)

Reynolds' simple solution for reducing contaminants on her floor and in her air? "As a hostess, I just remember to clean up afterward." She points out that each flooring surface has pros and cons regarding germs. "With hard-surface floors, you can disinfect them with diluted bleach or other solutions." But you should be cautious not to sweep too vigorously, which can kick up particulates. "From hard floors, things get resuspended into air easier," she says.

Carpet, on the other hand, is a safe haven for all things clinging to the bottoms of shoes. "Carpeting is notoriously bad because it will trap contaminants over time, it's harder to clean and impossible to disinfect," she says. Using a vacuum with a HEPA filter is best for combating these contaminants, as it's the most efficient at trapping particulates that would otherwise end up in the air. On the other hand, she says, germs are less likely to go airborne on dust particles when they're trapped in carpeting.

Staff C. Study Reveals High Bacteria Levels on Footwear. CIRI - Cleaning Industry Research Institute. Published May 3, 2008.

NM-Tracking - Seasonal Allergies. New Mexico Environmental Public Health Tracking. nmtracking.doh.nm.gov.

Lead Poisoning Adults & Lead Poisoning - NYC Health. www.nyc.gov.

ATSDR. Lead (Pb) Toxicity: Where is Lead Found? Environmental Education. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Cdc.gov. Published February 9, 2021.