Here are America's 'hardest-working states' of 2024, according to study

By Daniel Miller
Published  August 26, 2024 11:29am EDT
Fox TV Stations

FILE-Construction workers raise wood framing as they build homes in a new housing development. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Brief

    • North Dakota ranked first as the "hardest-working" state based on a recent study.
    • WalletHub ranked states using several categories, including average workweek hours, workers with multiple jobs, and average leisure time.
    • The states were then ranked on a 100-point scale with a high score representing a "hard-working state."

null - Americans are no strangers to hard work and while it is admirable to have a strong work ethic, a new study is highlighting states where people are going the extra mile on their jobs, leaving little free time for themselves. 

WalletHub released a recent report ranking the "hardest-working states" in 2024.

To determine where the hardest-working Americans reside, WalletHub compared the 50 states across two key dimensions: "Direct work factors" and "indirect work factors."

WalletHub examined those two categories along with 10 metrics, ranging from average workweek hours to the share of workers with multiple jobs to the average leisure time spent per day. These states were graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the "hardest-working."

The team then determined each state’s average across the metrics to calculate an overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states.

10 hardest-working states

  1. North Dakota
  2. Alaska
  3. Nebraska
  4. Wyoming
  5. South Dakota
  6. Maryland
  7. Texas
  8. Colorado
  9. New Hampshire
  10. Kansas

To see the complete list of the top hardest-working states by WalletHub, click here. 

The Source 

  • Information for this story was provided by WalletHub. To create the ranking, WalletHub used key categories ranging from average workweek hours to the share of workers with multiple jobs to the average leisure time spent per day. These states were graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the "hardest-working." WalletHub also used data collected July 29, 2024, from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Travel Association, Gallup, The Annie E. Casey Foundation and AmeriCorps. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.