10 U.S. States With Highest Job Burnout, According To Survey

As the holiday season approaches, the demands of work can take a serious toll on employee well-being. Lack of work-life balance is one of the leading causes of job stress. Statistics show that over 51% of workers experienced burnout in 2024—a 15% rise from last year, with stress as the leading cause. More job seekers are including work-life balance and finding the highest-paying, low-stress jobs as part of their wellness goals. It’s possible to prevent job burnout, depending partly on the state where you live. And a recent study reveals the U.S. states with the highest job burnout.

States With Highest Job Burnout

The analysis conducted by MattressNextDay, ranked all U.S. states on seven factors: average hours worked, employment rate, percentage of mental health issues, percentage of residents who use nicotine, percentage of people who become entrepreneurs, number of searches using key word, “side hustle” and percentage of social media posts showing positive sentiment for the prompt “hustle culture.”

1. Louisiana is officially the U.S. state that suffers from burnout the most. Citizens work the most hours on average (around 36.2 hours a week). Plus, 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 is the second most burnt-out state. Like Louisiana, it has the joint least positive sentiment towards hustle culture, and 22.4% of its population smoked in 2022—the most of any state. 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 ranks third for burnout, showing that residents work 34.8 hours per week. A full 17% of its population admitted to smoking in 2022 (the seventh most on the list), and it too, has a zero percent positive sentiment towards the term “hustle culture,” which suggests that employers are not too keen or understanding of people who run their own businesses on the side.
4. Tennessee has people with the fourth most weekly hours worked (35.1) and comes in fourth place for burning out. A full 96.6% of the population are in employment, which is positive. But in 2022, 19.2% of the population were dealing with poor mental health, highlighting the stresses a high workload can bring.
5. Texas rounds off the top five burnout states. It also has the joint second most new entrepreneur activity (0.47%), tying with California, 19^th overall—which means the state has a higher proportion of people becoming entrepreneurs in a given month. 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. This is the second highest on the list, suggesting a lot of people are serious about starting up their own businesses alongside their current jobs.
6. North Dakota ranks sixth place for burnout, with the state enjoying the joint second highest employment rate levels (97.9%) behind only South Dakota. This is ideal in one way. Yet, in another, it showcases 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 zero.
7. Florida comes in seventh place for burning out, averaging 34.1 hours per week. It has the highest percentage of people becoming entrepreneurs, at around 0.6% in a given month. According to the analyzers, this makes sense, given that it has the fourth most search volume for the term “side hustle” at 106,000—suggesting that people are switching from a business on the side, to making it their full-time job.
8. Vermont, the eighth most burnt-out state, ties with Oregon for the highest number of people dealing with mental health issues (21.8%). Citizens there work an average of 33.2 hours per week. Not only that, but the term “hustle culture” has zero positive sentiment, again, suggesting that employers might not be so happy about employees working extra in their downtime.
9. Maine, the state in ninth place, also has a zero positive sentiment score in regard to hustle culture and an average work week of 33.5 hours. Employment rates are high in Maine, where 97.4% of the working population have a job. Still, 19.2% of the population deal with mental health issues—which suggests there could be a correlation with work-related stresses.
10. Georgia is the last of the top 10 most burnt-out states in the country, where employees work an average of 34.5 hours per week. It has the joint fourth highest percentages of people who become entrepreneurs in a given month (0.46%). Georgia has had the fifth most searches for the term “side hustle” (58,500 over the year), showing interest in starting up a side business.

Final Wrap On States With Highest Job Burnout

According to senior sleep expert and CEO of MattressNextDay, Martin Seeley, “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.”

Seeley suggests that work stress and worry over how to find the right work-life balance can ultimately have a negative impact on sleep, adding that a cycle often happens when, over time, prolonged sleep deprivation disrupts circadian rhythm, negatively affecting your physical and mental health.

“Side hustles are great for boosting your income and enabling you to start your own business,” Seeley acknowledges, “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.”

Whether or not you live and work in one of the states with highest job burnout, the seven factors from the study can serve as an index for preventing burnout and creating and maintaining work-life balance. You can find more tips for preventing job burnout here and finding work-life balance here.