A new report by personal finance website WalletHub has ranked the top 10 hardest-working cities in the United States.
Why It Matters
A strong work ethic is deeply embedded in American culture and stands as a central element of the American dream.
“The average U.S. worker puts in 1,799 hours per year—188 hours more than the average in Japan, 275 more than the U.K. and 456 more than Germany,” WalletHub’s study noted.
What To Know
To reach its findings, WalletHub examined 116 of the most populous U.S. cities across “direct” and “indirect” work factors.
Direct work factors included things like average workweek hours, employment rate, share of workers leaving vacation time left unused, and the share of households where no adults work.
Indirect factors included average commute time, share of workers with multiple jobs, annual volunteer hours per resident, and average leisure time spent per day.
Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the “hardest-working.”
WalletHub then computed a weighted average of all metrics for each city to generate an overall score, which was then used to rank the sample.
Ranking first, as the “hardest-working” city in the U.S., was Anchorage, Alaska.
“Anchorage, AK, residents are the hardest workers in the country, due largely to the fact that it’s one of only five states where the average person works more than 40 hours per week,” read the report.
The city also enjoyed an exceptionally high employment rate of nearly 97 percent, meaning nearly all working-age individuals are employed.
The report also found that 7.6 percent of workers have more than one job, which was the third-highest rate in the country. Anchorage residents also had some of the least daily leisure time, ranking eighth-lowest among the 116 cities included in the study.
Coming in second was Washington, D.C.
This was partly because the nation’s capital had the highest percentage of workers—64 percent—who leave their vacation time unused. Additionally, D.C. residents worked the fourth-highest number of hours per week on average, the report said.
In third place was Irving, Texas.
The report said it had the lowest share of households where no adults work, at around 12 percent. It also ranked sixth in the U.S. in terms of the mean hours worked per week.
The study noted that it had the third-highest percentage of engaged workers, meaning the share of employees who are “involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace.”
Irving was one of four Texas cities that ranked among the top 10 in the country, along with Dallas, Austin, and Arlington.
The cities in the top 10 were:
- Anchorage, Alaska
- Washington, D.C.
- Irving, Texas
- Dallas, Texas
- Cheyenne, Wyoming
- Austin, Texas
- Denver, Colorado
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
- San Francisco, California
- Arlington, Texas
What People Are Saying
WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the report: “Hard work is the backbone of America’s economy and a big reason why the country has become so successful, as Americans outwork people in many other developed economies.”
He added: “While working long hours, minimizing time off, and having side jobs all lead to increased productivity, they can also have negative effects on people’s physical and mental health. It’s important for people to figure out how to work hard without overworking.”
What Happens Next?
WalletHub releases its report on the hardest-working cities in the U.S. annually.
Newsweek has previously mapped the hardest working states in America.
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