Is your husband a roughneck and you are a "Ranch Wife"?
There’s no precise, up-to-date statistic that directly quantifies the number of married women whose husbands work in oil fields and are away for months at a time, as this specific demographic isn’t typically tracked in national labor or census data.
The oil and gas industry employs a significant number of workers in roles that often involve extended periods away from home, such as on offshore rigs or remote onshore sites. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the oil and gas extraction sector (NAICS 211) had about 120,000 workers in the U.S. as of 2023, with roles like roughnecks, drillers, and tool pushers often requiring "hitch" schedules—typically two to four weeks on, followed by equal time off. Some sources, like a 2022 Quora post, describe oil field workers being away for 2–3 weeks at a time, which can strain marriages, though this doesn’t equate to "months" in most cases unless specific projects demand longer absences.
Given that 95% of oil field workers are male, we can estimate a ballpark of around 114,000 men in these roles. Not all are married, but the U.S. Census Bureau notes that about 50% of men aged 25–54 (prime working age) are married. If we apply this roughly to oil field workers, we’re looking at approximately 57,000 married men in the industry. However, not all of these men work schedules that keep them away for months. Offshore workers, who make up a smaller subset (estimated at 10–20% of the industry based on job type distribution), are more likely to have longer hitches, sometimes extending to a month or more, depending on the company and location. Onshore workers, like those in the Permian Basin, often have shorter rotations, such as 4 days on, 4 days off, as described in a 2018 article about oil field wives.
So, while there’s a notable group of married women whose husbands work in oil fields and are away for weeks at a time, the number experiencing absences of "months" is likely smaller—potentially in the range of a few thousand to tens of thousands nationwide, concentrated in oil-heavy regions like Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico.
Without more granular data, it’s hard to pin down an exact figure, but the lifestyle is common enough to be a recognized dynamic in oil field communities, as seen in personal accounts from women like Elexis Towler, who manage households independently during their husbands’ shifts.
Resources:
https://eu.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2018/10/09/wives-oil-field-workers-black-gold-brides-permian-basin/1567563002/
https://eu.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2018/10/09/wives-oil-field-workers-black-gold-brides-permian-basin/1567563002/
https://www.zippia.com/oil-field-worker-jobs/demographics/
https://eu.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2018/10/09/wives-oil-field-workers-black-gold-brides-permian-basin/1567563002/
https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag211.htm
https://www.quora.com/How-s-the-life-of-a-wife-who-s-husband-is-working-in-the-oil-rigs-or-oil-fields-My-fianc%25C3%25A9e-is-planning-on-getting-into-that-profession-I-m-afraid-of-it-putting-a-strain-in-our-marriage-especially-after-reading)