Overall Ranking: 15th Laziest
Connecticut’s shortfalls center in the workplace. They’re not the worst when it comes to their work ethic, but they sure aren’t doing too hot. Their unemployment rates are higher than the national average. The people who do have jobs aren’t seen as engaged. Sure, there are bright spots, but it’s not the most hardworking place you’ll find.
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Connecticut also ranks 10th worst in the nation when it comes to direct work factors used in the metrics such as a low number of average workweek hours and a high share of the working population who has multiple jobs.
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Overall Ranking: 14th Laziest
What’s the scariest part of seeing Illinois on this list? It’s the 5th most populated state around. That’s a lot of people doing a whole lot of nothing. Let’s hope Chicago gets the state moving sometime soon!
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Illinois places a lowly 38th in the nation for average work hours. It also is in the bottom half of the nation for indirect work factors, like an idle youth rate and annual volunteer hours per resident.
Overall Ranking: 13th Laziest
Washington may be on the lazy list, but we’ll let them slide. After all, they have one of the prettiest states around. Who would want to be productive when you could walk through Olympic National Park instead?
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Washington is a state of two extremes. It's in the bottom quarter of states for average work hours and share of the population with multiple jobs. At the same time, it's in the top quarter of states who volunteer often and have low idle youth rates.
Overall Ranking: 12th Laziest
Florida ranks pretty low when it comes to life outside of the workplace. According to some sources, they volunteer less than almost every other state. They’ve also got a lot of leisure time, which presumably leads to weird hobbies. That’s probably why we see so many news articles about Florida people arrested for doing weird things. (Trust us. Google it.)
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To be fair, there is a large retiree population in Florida, which may lower their average volunteer hours per resident rate. But many of the other metrics are based solely on the working-age population, and they still perform poorly compared to other states in the country.
Overall Ranking: 11th Laziest
Arizona’s unemployment rate of 4.9% doesn’t sound too bad, but it’s worse than the national average of 3.9%, pushing Arizona closer to the bottom of the barrel than the state would like. Luckily, it’s also one of the best states for job growth. We’re hoping this state doesn’t stay on the “Lazy” list!
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Like Florida, Arizona also has a sizeable retiree population who is looking to move to warmer year-round weather. If there's one silver lining for Arizonans, however, it's that they seem to be more physically active than their Floridian counterparts.
Overall Ranking: 10th Laziest
When the people of Alabama go to work, they thrive. Well, sort of. They’re definitely middle of the road. When they go home, though, things go downhill. As soon as they clock out, the laziness kicks in.
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That means that when they aren't working, they aren't enriching themselves by performing personal or professional growth activities or even volunteering in high numbers. They come in at a poor 7th to last place for these individual metrics.
Overall Ranking: 9th Laziest
WalletHub ranked Pennsylvania terribly for its workplaces. For example, the people of Pennsylvania aren’t exactly known for being engaged with their work. It kinda makes us think that The Office was set in Pennsylvania for a reason.
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The good news for Pennsylvania is that they are engaged with their community once they leave the office. They rank in the top half of states for "indirect work" factors like average volunteer hours per resident.
Overall Ranking: 8th Laziest
The Bluegrass State made this list because the residents aren’t really looking out for anyone else. The people have just as much free time as the rest of us, but they have the lowest volunteer hours of any American state. That’s not cool, Kentucky.
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Noticing a theme of Southern states ranking poorly when it comes to the workplace? It's because they have a larger than national average share of residents who have second and third jobs to make ends meet, and Kentucky is no exception.
Overall Ranking: 7th Laziest
Nevada’s Achilles’ Heel is leisure time. They waste a lot of it. You know what else Nevada is known for? Vegas. Coincidence? We think not.
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Their last-in-the-nation ranking when it comes to "indirect work factors" is mitigated somewhat by their not-too-terrible "direct work factors" ranking, at least in comparison. One strong point for Nevadan workplaces is that strong unions exist in Las Vegas for the benefit of workers.
Overall Ranking: 6th Laziest
Ohio manages to be middle of the road in just about everything. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s not really making a splash either. It’s just kind of there, surrounded by some other equally-forgettable states. The only thing really noteworthy is that they’re infamous for taking their obsession with Ohio State sports too far, but that’s probably just because they don’t have anything better to do.
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Their poor ranking stems from a 45 out of 50 ranking for average working hours and low share of the working population having more than one job. Added to that a 31 out of 50 ranking for things like high average volunteer hours and low levels and youth idleness, and you average out to the 7th laziest state in the nation.
Overall Ranking: 5th Laziest
Of every state, Oregon has more problems in the workplace than most states. This means they are sub-par when it comes to everything from working hours, unemployment rates, and unused vacation time. Oregon is kind of slogging through the rain that seems to fall so much up there.
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They fair a little bit better when it comes to "indirect work factors," landing in the top half of states. It seems they have higher than the national average of volunteer rates and are more active, especially outdoors, than most states.
Overall Ranking: 4th Laziest
New Mexico made this list because there’s just so little going on in the state. It’s very sparsely populated, the children don’t do much, and their unemployment isn’t very high.
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They have the second lowest employment rate in the nation. It seems that carries over from youth where they also have the second highest idle youth rate in the country. The lowest for that metric is a three-way tie.
Overall Ranking: 3rd Laziest
Seeing West Virginia on this list is kind of sad. It seems like they make it on all of the lists you don’t want to be on, including this lazy one. The real kicker here? They’re passing their laziness on to the next generation. They have some of the idlest youth you’ll find anywhere in the States.
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They also have the third lowest employment rate for their working-age population. They don't do so well on other "indirect" factors, like volunteer hours, either.
Overall Ranking: 2nd Laziest
Statistically, Rhode Island does less than most states. Sure, they probably have their outgoing citizens, but they are not representative of most residents. Rhode Islanders have more daily leisure time than most Americans but some of the lowest volunteer hours around.
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They rank 46 out of 50 for "direct" factors like average workweek hours and share of workers with multiple jobs. Rhode Island also ranks 48 out of 50 for "indirect" factors like volunteer hours and idle youth rate.
Overall Ranking: 1st Laziest
Sure, Michigan may be one of the laziest states around, but we’ve got to hand it to them: they seem to know what they're doing. Their only real “problems” are spending too much time relaxing and not spending enough time in the office.
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Most Americans may be overworked, but it seems like Michigan is taking a stand. If you ask us, they’re living their best lives.
