Your Money

The hardest working cities in America

Contractors work during construction of the new Toyota Motor North America Inc. headquarters in Plano, Texas.
Laura Buckman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Although many people strive to find a balance between work and life, it remains out of reach for a lot of Americans.

As President Donald Trump vows to create more and better paying jobs, workers in this country are putting in longer days, taking fewer vacations and retiring much later than they ever have in the past. Few even step out for lunch.

And workers in some cities are punching the clock even harder than others, according to a recent report by personal finance site WalletHub.

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WalletHub compiled a list of the U.S. cities with the strongest work ethic by analyzing 116 spots using criteria such as the labor-force participation rate, average weekly work hours and the share of workers with multiple jobs.

Leading the pack were Anchorage, Alaska. Texas had two cities in the top five. In Burlington, Vermont, on the other hand, workers put in just 33 hours a week on average, and lagged the rest of America.

New York City — also known as the city that never sleeps — didn't even crack the top 25: It was merely number 29, according to the report.

Just because employees in some areas are working harder, it doesn't mean they are also earning more. The median salary in Anchorage is just under $65,000 for a worker with less than 10 years of experience, compared with over $76,000 in New York, according to PayScale. (And here are the cities where you can live large on that kind income.)

Altogether, these are the hardest working cities in America and the places getting outworked:

Top 10 hardest working cities/Bottom 10 hardest working cities

Overall Best City, State
1Anchorage, AK
2Plano, TX
3Cheyenne, WY
4Virginia Beach, VA
5Irving, TX
6Scottsdale, AZ
7San Francisco, CA
8Corpus Christi, TX
9Washington, DC
10Sioux Falls, SD

Source: Source: WalletHub


Overall Worst City, State
107Toledo, OH
108Fresno, CA
109Cleveland, OH
110Tucson, AZ
111Columbia, SC
112Buffalo, NY
113Providence, RI
114San Bernardino, CA
115Detroit, MI
116Burlington, VT

Source: Source: WalletHub