WalletHub recently produced its “Hardest-Working States in America (2026)” report. Readers in West Virginia and Appalachian Ohio are likely thinking “Finally! A report in which our region will not be dead last.”
About that …
Both the Buckeye and the Mountain states fall in the bottom 10, which WalletHub labels “least hardworking.”
West Virginia is 42nd, Ohio is 47th — those residents will be pleased to note that ranks above Michigan, which did, indeed, come in dead last.
This study looked at direct work factors, including metrics such as average workweek hours, share of households where no adults are working and employment rate; and indirect work factors, which included average commute time, volunteer hours per resident and average leisure time spent per day, among other factors.
West Virginia was 42nd for direct work factors and 39th for indirect. Ohio was 47th for direct factors, and 27th for indirect.
Further, West Virginia was tied for 43rd for the rate of idle youth.
For contrast, South Dakota was the hardest working state, “in part because 6.5% of workers have multiple jobs, the 11th-highest percentage in the country,” according to the report’s authors. “Although this may not be an ideal situation, indicating that people’s main jobs are not paying them enough, it’s still a testament to how hard South Dakota residents are willing to work. In addition, South Dakota has the fifth-lowest share of “idle youth” — people ages 18 to 24 who are not in school, are not working and have no school experience beyond a high school diploma.”
If that assessment of our region’s work ethic doesn’t sit well with your ideas about the economic and work culture in which your parents and grandparents forged their lives here, let it serve as a reminder — particularly to the politicians who hope you will keep looking backward: Very little of the economy and work culture in which those generations grew up remains here. It’s time to move forward into a diversified and expanded economy that provides the opportunity and quality of life that will let us be the hard-working, productive, helpful members of society we were raised to be.
South Dakota also has the highest employment rate in the country at nearly 98%. Ohio has approximately 96.6% employment while West Virginia has 95.9%.
While the report’s authors noted those in the hardest-working states “may need to consider taking a break once in a while,” people in some of the lower ranked states would simply like to be in a position to consider that choice.
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