The Hardest Working State In The US Might Not Be What You Think

The hardest working state has temperatures that average between 37 and 44 degrees Fahrenheit, thousands of acres of grassland prairies, and massive amounts of wheat farms and cattle ranches. It is also home to the third largest amount of crude oil reserves in the nation, and the world's largest deposit of brown coal lignite. It was also the seventh largest coal producing state in 2023, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And its most populated city, Fargo, has less than 106,000 people – although its name did inspire a Coen Brothers movie and a hit F/X series. This state, North Dakota, ranked at No. 1 in WalletHub's Hardest Working States of America list.

A good work ethic and the availability of jobs are big reasons behind this. The state has the second-lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. (2.9% per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) and the average person works 39.6 hours each week. North Dakota also has the second-lowest amount of young people aged 18 to 24 with no degree other than a high school diploma who are not in school and not working. And this also isn't the first time North Dakota received WalletHub's top ranking. It placed first in the personal finance website's Hardest Working States list in 2022, 2033 and 2024.

"North Dakota consistently ranks as the hardest working state because it combines one of the highest employment rates in the country with long average workweeks and a very low share of idle youth, meaning both adults and young people remain engaged in the labor force," Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst and writer, told Newsweek.

But North Dakotans are not working hard because they are saving up to visit a particularly expensive ski-resort city in Utah. A large proportion of North Dakotans (33.5%) have unused vacation time, the second highest percentage in the nation. They also have the 11^th lowest amount of leisure time each day, "signaling a strong preference for productivity," WalletHub's Lupo said to Newsweek, although the statistics also "raise concerns about burnout."

Per IBIS World, North Dakota's highest-earning industries include oil and gas extraction ($30.1 billion), corn wheat and soybean wholesaling ($16.5 billion), and oil and gas field services ($5.2 billion).

But this doesn't mean North Dakota, which had a population of about 779,000 people in 2020, are flush with cash. North Dakota's median household income was $76,525 a year as of 2023, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. In contrast, the median annual household income across the U.S. in 2023 was $80,610, per a U.S. Census report. As of August 25, 2025, the average salary in North Dakota was $60,570 a year, per ZipRecruiter, with an oil rig worker's annual pay at $58,482. But like many of the highest-paying jobs in America, the highest average salaries in North Dakota are in the medical field. Transplant surgeons, neurological surgeons, pediatric radiologists, preventive medicine physicians, and pediatric dermatologists and echocardiographers have average salaries of $423,232 a year.

North Dakota residents may work a lot because it is not that affordable of a state to reside in. Per another WalletHub report, North Dakota was ranked 31 out of 50 in terms of affordability and that is even with it having the second lowest housing costs in the U.S. Still, North Dakota was ranked as the 16^th best state to live overall, mainly for its bustling economy.

Meanwhile, Alaska, which WalletHub ranked as the second hardest working state, have employees that work the most hours of any state: 41.6. That could be because, despite a stimulus payment for those who live in this state, WalletHub placed Alaska at No. 43 in terms of affordability and at No. 46 in terms of overall livability. 

And the third most hard-working state? That would be North Dakota's southern neighbor, South Dakota, which, per the Bureau of Labor of Statistics, has the lowest unemployment rate of any state at 1.9%. About 6.1% of its population also have multiple jobs, according to WalletHub, which ranked South Dakota at No. 21 in terms of affordability and as the 18^th best state to live in.