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Globally, “hustle culture” has had 30.8 million video views on TikTok. And in the USA, over the last 12 months, 1.08 million Americans have googled the term, signaling a desire to keep on working outside of the traditional 9-5 job.
An extra income in addition to your main job, there’s no doubt that more people are looking to be persistently productive and earn extra money, but this can come at a price.
With little or no downtime, a side hustle can ultimately impact your physical and mental wellbeing if you’re not careful. So, we decided to uncover the most burnt-out states across the USA, taking factors into account such as searches for “side hustles”, average hours worked, entrepreneurial activity, and more.
1. Louisiana
Louisiana is officially the US state that suffers from burnout the most. Not only do citizens here work the most hours on average, at around 36.2 hours a week, but it has the joint lowest positive sentiment for hustle culture, with a rating of zero; and the joint third highest cigarette usage, with 18.3% of the population having smoked in 2022.
2. West Virginia
Moving to the East Coast, the population of West Virginia is the second most burnt-out in the USA. Like Louisiana, it has the joint least positive sentiment towards hustle culture, and 22.4% of its population smoked in 2022 – the most out of any state.
In addition to that, West Virginians work the third most weekly hours (35.5), and have the joint fourth highest mental health issues (20.7%), tying with Wyoming and Montana.
3. Arkansas
In third place for burnout is Arkansas, showing that location doesn’t matter when it comes to burnout, with states all across the USA suffering from it.
17% of its population admitted to smoking in 2022 (the seventh most on our list), and it too, had a 0% positive sentiment towards the term “hustle culture”, suggesting that employers are perhaps not too keen or understanding of people who run their own businesses on the side.
4. Tennessee
With the fourth most weekly hours worked (35.1), Tennessee comes in fourth place for burning out.
96.6% of the population are in employment, which is positive. However, 19.2% of the population were dealing with poor mental health in 2022, highlighting the stresses a high workload can bring.
5. Texas
Rounding off our top five burnout states is Texas, with the joint second most new entrepreneur activity (0.47%), tying with California, which came 19th overall – essentially meaning that the state has a higher proportion of people becoming entrepreneurs in a given month.
If that wasn’t enough, Texans work the second longest weeks, averaging 35.8 hours, and its citizens searched for the term “side hustles” a huge 132,500 times over the course of a year, which is the second highest on our list, suggesting a lot of people are serious about starting up their own businesses alongside their current jobs.
6. North Dakota
In sixth place for burnout is North Dakota, with the state enjoying the joint second highest employment rate levels (97.9%) behind only South Dakota – ideal in one way, but in another, showcasing the relationship between full-time employment and mental health, with 19.1% dealing with these issues.
North Dakota also works the joint fifth longest week, at 35 hours – tying with Kentucky – and also views side hustles negatively, at 0.
7. Florida
Florida comes in seventh place for burning out, with the highest percentage of people becoming entrepreneurs, at around 0.6% in a given month.
This makes sense, given that it has the fourth most search volume for the term “side hustle” at 106,000 – suggesting people are making the switch from a business on the side, to making it their full-time job.
8. Vermont
The eighth most burnt-out state is Vermont, tying with Oregon for the highest number of people dealing with mental health issues, at 21.8%.
Not only that, but the term “hustle culture” has 0 positive sentiment, again, suggesting that employers might not be so happy about employees working extra in their downtime.
9. Maine
In ninth place is Maine, which also has a 0 positive sentiment score when it comes to hustle culture.
Employment rates are high here, with 97.4% of the working population having a job, yet 19.2% of the population are dealing with mental health issues – suggesting there could be a correlation with work-related stresses.
10. Georgia
Georgia makes up our top 10 most burnt-out states in the USA, with the joint fourth highest percentages of people who become entrepreneurs in a given month, at 0.46%. Additionally, Georgia has had the fifth most searches for the term “side hustle”, at 58,500 over the year, showing the interest in starting up a side business.
If we then look at each factor individually, we can see that some states are impacted by certain factors more than others.
For instance, of our top 10 most burnt-out states, only North Dakota and Florida made it into the top 10 for employment rates. South Dakota (98.1%0, Nebraska (97.9%), Alabama (97.7%), and Montana (97.7%) made up the rest of the top five.
When it comes to mental health issues, Oregon has the highest percentage, with 21.8% of the population being diagnosed with a condition in 2022. Washington had the third highest, at 20.9%, with these two states coming 18th and 33rd overall for burnout, highlighting that this showcases only part of the picture.
For cigarette usage, Kentucky and Missouri scored second and third, with 19% and 18% of the population smoking in 2022, and scoring 13th and 16th overall.
When it comes to side hustles, California had by far the most searches, at 189,500 over the course of a year. Nevada and Colorado came joint fourth for new entrepreneur activity alongside Georgia, whilst scoring 24th and 35th on our list overall.
Finally, when it comes to positive sentiment for the term “hustle culture”, many states view it negatively. Apart from the ones already mentioned in our top 10, South Carolina, Utah, Kansas, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Alaska all had a 0 for positivity.
The very real effects of “hustle culture” on your sleep
Sleep expert and CEO of MattressNextDay, Martin Seeley, states: “Getting swept up into hustle culture can be all-too-easy, and these stats are eye-opening in showing the states that are pushing themselves too far when it comes to work.
“Stressing about work and how to strike the right work-life balance can ultimately have a detrimental impact on your sleep, which in turn can make the situation worse. Over time, prolonged sleep deprivation can disrupt your circadian rhythm, which can negatively affect your physical and mental health. But it can also impact your productivity too, with one study showing that a reduction of 1.5 hours in your sleep each night can reduce your alertness by 32% - not what you want to hear if you’re working on your side hustle alongside your day job.”
“Side hustles are great for boosting your income, and enabling you to start your own business, but if you’re finding you’re constantly feeling stressed with deadlines and workloads, you can end up feeling even more anxious, angry, and even depressed. Plus, long-term sleep deprivation can cause other serious health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease.”
For even more advice, you can read our guide to mastering your sleep when you work two jobs.
Ultimately, we hope these stats are a wake-up call to show that you need to be kind to yourself, and if you’re feeling stressed, to take things slower. Getting a good night’s sleep is one way you can help to reduce your feelings of stress and anxiety, and it’s really important you get into a good sleep routine that isn’t impacted by your work.
Making sure you have the right mattress, bed frame, and pillows can also help you to get a restful night’s sleep. If you’re unsure of what’s best for you, have a read of our mattress buying guide, alongside our tips on what to consider when buying a new bed, to make sure you find the right choice for you.
Methodology
Sources:
| Factor | Data Point | Collection Method | Link |
| Avg. Hours Worked | All | Data values copied & pasted. | https://www.bls.gov/sae/tables/annual-average/table-4-average-hours-and-earnings-of-all-employees-on-private-nonfarm-payrolls-by-state.htm |
| Employment Rate | All | Data values copied & pasted. | https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/employment-rate-by-state |
| Mental Health Issues Cigarette Use | All | Data values copied & pasted. | https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt44485/2022-nsduh-sae-totals-tables-csv/2022-nsduh-sae-totals-tables.pdf |
| New Entrepreneurial Activity | All | Data values copied & pasted. | https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.ucsc.edu/dist/1/884/files/2024/01/entrepreneurship-indicators-2023_v4-86a1385edc540715.pdf |
| "Side Hustle" Search Volume | All | Datasets downloaded & summed. | https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/ |
| "Hustle Culture" Positive Sentiment | All | Data values copied & pasted. | https://www.brandwatch.com/ |
| Population | All | Data values copied & pasted. | https://www.citypopulation.de/en/usa/states/admin/ |
Methodology:
This dataset ranks all 50 US states, based on how much they’re burnt out. To do this, 7 different factors were used. Once the data for the factors was collected, the factors were then normalised, to provide each factor with a score of between 0 and 1. If data was not available, a score of 0 was given. The normalised values were then summed and multiplied by 14.29 to give a total score out of 100. The locations were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on their total scores.
The factors used are as follows:
- Avg. Hours Worked - The average working hours per week in for private nonfarm employees, in each state.
- Employment Rate - The number of people employed in each state.
- Mental Health Issues - The percentage of people in each state that have had a mental illness within the past year, in 2022.
- Cigarette Use - The percentage of people in each state that have used cigarettes within the past year, in 2022.
- New Entrepreneurial Activity - The percentage of people in each state that become entrepreneurs in a given month, averaged across the last 3 years.
- "Side Hustle" Search Volume - The number of searches in each state, on Keyword Planner, for the prompt "side hustle" between Jul 23 - Jun 24.
- "Hustle Culture" Positive Sentiment - The percentage of social media posts including the prompt "hustle culture" that are 'Joyful', according to Brandwatch.
The factors were indexed as follows:
- Avg. Hours Worked - High values get a high score. Low values get a low score.
- Employment Rate - High values get a high score. Low values get a low score.
- Mental Health Issues - High values get a high score. Low values get a low score.
- Cigarette Use - High values get a high score. Low values get a low score.
- New Entrepreneurial Activity - High values get a high score. Low values get a low score.
- "Side Hustle" Search Volume - High values get a high score. Low values get a low score.
- "Hustle Culture" Positive Sentiment - Low values get a high score. High values get a low score.
All data is correct as of 10/07/24. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources, and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regards to the sources provided.
In the last year, 1.08 million Americans googled “side hustles”, signalling a strong desire to be in persistently productive. (Data correct as of 11.07.24 - Google Keyword Planner)
Globally, hustle culture has 30.8 million video views on TikTok. (Data correct as of 11.07.24)
