A top ranking we’re too busy to celebrate: Seattle named America’s hardest working city
Jul 24, 2013, 11:30 AM | Updated: 2:59 pm
A new list says Seattle is the hardest working city in America. (AP file)
(AP file)
If it feels like you’re working harder than ever, you can take some comfort in knowing your labors have at least been recognized in a new list that says Seattle is America’s Hardest Working City.
The real estate blog Movoto took seven different categories into account to come up with its rankings. They include average hours worked per week, unemployment rate, commute time, employed workers per household, hours volunteered per year, lack of sleep and cost of living.
The research is surprisingly exhaustive. It includes data culled from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Census Bureau, and more.
Seattle’s standing in the individual categories varies widely. While we top the list of the nation’s 50 biggest cities with the lowest unemployment rate, we actually get a lower score for the sleep rank (based on number of late night emails sent from the city), and we spend far less time commuting than workers in many other big cities (We’re number 20, while Chicago tops the category.)
But we rank 14th overall in hours worked (Houston topped the category,) and 5th overall for cost of living (no surprise, San Francisco remains the costliest place to live.)
The categories seem a bit random, but writer David Cross says they make perfect sense. He figures the more expensive a city, the harder people have to work to make ends meet. As for the unemployment rate “working hard means you are actually working,” he writes. And he figured the longer you’re commuting, the more time you are devoting to work.
Cross also factored in hourly wages for the hours worked category, but many employees are on salary and don’t keep track of their hours.
When all the numbers are added up, Cross determined here in Seattle we’re keeping our noses to the grindstone more than workers in any other metro area.
Rounding out the top ten are Arlington, Fort Worth and Dallas, Tx., Virginia Beach, Washington, D.C. and Houston.
Do you feel like you work harder than anyone else?
