Texas cities rank in the top 5 most overworked cities in US, study says

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two Texas cities rank among the most overworked cities in the United States, according to a new study from FinanceBuzz, a financial informational website.

Austin and Dallas both rank in the top 5 most overworked cities, according to the study. Austin is ranked at No. 3, and Dallas sits at No. 5.

Other cities in the top five include Washington D.C., ranked first, Denver, Colorado at No. 2, and Minneapolis, Minnesota at 4.

Other Texas cities weren’t spared in the study. The study listed Houston and San Antonio in the top 40.

FinanceBuzz ranks the cities based on a number of metrics:

Average number of hours worked per week

Average commute time

Percentage of households where two or more people have jobs

Percentage of workers that work 50+ weeks per year

Percentage of active workers that are aged 65+

Percentage of workers in each city’s state who have two or more jobs

Percentage of workers with a side hustle

According to FinanceBuzz, “Austin also has a high percentage of households where more than one person holds a full-time job, along with a slightly higher amount of average hours worked than D.C.,” and “Dallas currently holds not only one of the longest commute times among the top 10, but also one of the highest percentages of older adult workers aged 65 and older.”

Austinites work an average of 39.8 hours per week and commute an average of 26.1 minutes. In Dallas, employees work an average of 39.9 hours per week and commute 27.3 minutes.

Josh Koebert with FinanceBuzz broke down the methodology of the study.

“So, we looked at 50 of the biggest cities in the country across six factors relating to work,” Koebert said. “A lot of it is sort of census and official government data; how many hours people work, the percentage of households that both people in it work full time, commute time, a number of workers that work 50 or more hours per year, percentage of elderly workers still in the workforce full time, and things like that, we looked at about six different metrics related to work in that regard.”

Koebert also explained some of the key findings about Austin and why it’s ranked so high on the list.

“So the big one for Austin is, you know, everyone’s used to the 40-hour work week. But according to the data, the average person in these major cities actually works about 38.8 hours a week, and Austin’s a full hour ahead of that. People in Austin work 39.8 hours per week on average, according to the data, that’s the third highest rate in the whole country behind only Dallas and Houston,” Koebert said. “That’s a really big one. You’re also above average in terms of the number of households where both partners work full time. Sixty percent of households in Austin have two full-time workers, and the average around the country is 54 percent. And another huge one, almost two-thirds of people in Austin work 50 or more weeks a year. That just means you guys aren’t taking enough vacations.”

Koebert advised that people in overworked cities make it a point to take time for themselves and use their PTO. “Use it, don’t just let it sit. Take the time when you need to get out of the office and get out and recharge your batteries so you can come back fresh.”

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