DC ranked hardest-working city in the US, study shows

WASHINGTON - A new study has ranked D.C. as the hardest-working city in America. 

The data was recently released by WalletHub, which compared the 116 largest cities across 11 key metrics. The two main factors that researchers considered were Direct Work Factors and Indirect Work Factors. 

Direct factors, such as working hours per week, rate of employment and household shares, made up 80% of a city’s score. 

The other 20% of the score included indirect factors like commute time, workers with multiple jobs and annual volunteer hours. 

D.C. ranked number one, with a score of 76.97. 

According to WalletHub researchers, the nation’s capital has the highest share of workers who leave vacation time unused — 64% — and residents of D.C. also work the third-most hours per week on average in the country.

People in D.C. also have relatively long commutes at over 30 minutes on average, adding time on to their workday. 

Outside of work, over 30% of the District’s residents are members of local volunteer groups or organizations.

D.C. is followed by Irving, Texas in second and Cheyenne, Wyoming in third. Virginia Beach took the fourth spot with a score of 75.79. Norfolk, Virginia also made the top 10 hardest-working cities, coming in at number six. 

The study noted that U.S. workers put in more hours at their jobs than many other industrialized cultures, with an average of 1,811 hours per year. That’s 204 hours more than the average in Japan, 279 more than the U.K. and 470 more than Germany. 

Additionally, they say the switch to working from home has led many Americans to extend their hours even further.