America has a reputation of grind. We pride ourselves on hustle yet silently wish for more PTO or a decent lunch break. But within the country, there is still a divide when it comes to work-life balance. It is far superior in certain states, but even then from city to city there is a major difference in how overworked (or not) its residents are.
And us Washingtonians, not only feel the weight of the world on our shoulders, but we also just took home the hefty prize of “the most overworked city in America.”
Yay?
While some of you might feel validated, others might be curious to how these results came to be. With a trend of “Great Resignation” many workers are seeking improved work life balance as a result of burnout. And younger generations continue to spread awareness on boundaries, time off, and the hopes of a 4-day work week.
But without much systemic change, many cities are still burning the candle on both ends. Washington D.C. ranked as America’s most overworked city accroding to FinanceBuzz, a financial planning website.
The publication analyzed 7 key indicators of a burnout-prone overworked lifestyle across 50 major U.S. cities:
- Average number of hours worked weekly
- Average commute time
- Percent of households with 2+ people employed
- Percent of workers who work 50-52 weeks annually
- Percent of actively employed adults over 65
- Percent of workers with 2+ jobs
- Percent of workers with a side hustle
Washington D.C. came out at number 1 as the most overworked city. Not far behind was Baltimore, Maryland at number 10. According to FinanceBuzz’s results, D.C. also has the highest percentage of adults 65+ still in the workforce and one of the highest rates of workers completing 50+ weeks of work annually. This means they’re at most only taking off only 10 PTO days annually.
Here’s a breakdown of D.C.’s results:
- Average weekly hours: 39 hours
- Average commute: 31 minutes
- Dual-job households: 61.3%
- Employees who work 50+ weeks annually: 64%
- 65+ still in workforce: 23.4%
- Employees with 2 jobs: 5.6%
- Employees with a side hustle: 3%
This gave D.C. an overworked rating of 81.1. In contrast, Las Vegas was ranked as the least overworked city with a score of 18.7.