Arlington is either a powerhouse of skilled and motivated workers or a town full of workaholics, depending on how you look at it. The county has earned the top spot in a new study of the nation’s hardest-working cities.
The ranking, compiled by CoworkingCafe, a listing service for shared workspaces, weighed a number of indicators, including employment rates and average weekly hours worked. The study also factored in efficiency and productivity metrics based on the number of employees working from home or in shared coworking spaces. Arlington workers put in an average of 41.1 hours per week—the highest average nationwide, according to the report released Feb. 1.
Described as a “model of productivity and efficiency,” Arlington boasted the highest employment rate among 25-64-year-olds (85.5%) and a low unemployment rate—which at 2.8%, is the third lowest in the country.
Other factors that cast Arlington in the top slot: a low “idle population” (meaning people who choose not to work, such as recent grads taking a break before joining the workforce or full-time caregivers who aren’t seeking employment) and the engagement of its older workforce. Arlington had one of the highest employment rates for workers 65 and older (26%).
The county also scored in the top 10 nationwide for efficiency, based on its work-from-home rate of 27% and its surplus of more than 10 coworking spaces per 100,000 residents. The rationale is that professionals working from home or in shared workspaces close to home use their time more efficiently by reducing their commuting times.
In fact, commute times are one area where Arlington did not come out on top. The report found Arlington workers spending nearly 28 minutes commuting, on average, “trailing even cities that are notorious for their congested roads, like Atlanta and Houston.”
The solid work ethic appears to be a wider phenomenon across the DMV. Neighboring Alexandria earned the study’s No. 2 spot, and Washington, D.C., was 16th on its list of the hardest-working cities.
Sunnyvale, California, took third in the rankings, with Carrolton, Texas, and San Francisco rounding out the top five.
The study focused on U.S. cities with at least 100,000 residents 16 and older that had data available for all the metrics mentioned above.
(And, by the way, if all that work time starts to stress you out, we have ideas for how to relax. Go to a spa for a weekend or check out the day spas and fitness studios on our Best of Arlington 2024 list.)
Arlington is accustomed to accolades. Here are other some other bragging rights to throw around at cocktail parties or family dinners:
- Niche, a platform that connects students and families with colleges and schools, ranked Arlington second on its 2023 Best Cities to Live in America list, third on its list of best cities to raise a family and fifth on its list of best cities for young professionals.
- Forbes Advisor’s 2023 rankings of The Most Educated Cities in the U.S. put Arlington at the top.
- For six years running, Arlington has been the country’s fittest city.
- In 2022, a SmartAsset study named Arlington the second happiest city in America, after Sunnyvale.