States with the Best Work-Life Balance

For a majority of full-time workers in the U.S., we spend about 40 hours every week on the job. When you factor in eight hours for sleep, the national average of 54 minutes commuting to work, and about four hours doing chores like cooking your favorite meal or running errands, that leaves little time for relaxation.

At Solitaire Bliss, we know that taking time for yourself to unwind after a long day is important, not just for overall happiness, but for positive mental health as well. Many of you play our free solitaire games for exactly that reason. So we set out to learn where in the U.S. people are spending the most free time on leisure activities.

From socializing with friends to going on a run, we analyzed the average time spent on a variety of leisure activities reported in the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest American Time Use Survey. We then calculated the average time spent on work activities and calculated a leisure-to-work ratio by state to learn where Americans are managing the best work-life balance. Read on to learn more about our findings.

Key Takeaways

• Missouri, Louisiana, and Connecticut are the three best states for work-life balance.
• Utah, Kansas, and Iowa are the three worst states for work-life balance.
• California and Pennsylvania residents spend the most leisure time on religious and spiritual activities.
• Nebraska and Missouri residents spend the most leisure time socializing and relaxing.
• California and Oklahoma residents spend the most leisure time on sports and exercise and recreation activities.
• Iowa and Michigan residents spend the most leisure time traveling.
• Indiana and Wisconsin residents spend the most leisure time on volunteer activities.

Where Americans Have the Best Work-Life Balance

Achieving a healthy work-life balance isn’t just a luxury; it’s a necessity for our well-being and overall productivity. Having the ability to decompress from your hectic demands at work requires you to dedicate time to things you enjoy the most. Whether that’s spending time with loved ones, exploring new hobbies, or simply relaxing, it’s no secret that doing so can significantly improve your physical and mental health.

From shorter commute times and job flexibility to accessibility to nature, some states offer a better environment for managing work and life. The top three states for the best work-life balance are Missouri, Louisiana, and Connecticut. Missouri, which is known as the “Show Me” state, is clearly showing the rest of the country how to prioritize downtime. Residents there spend an average of 46.5 hours per week on leisure activities, which is the highest of any state.

Unfortunately, not all places make it equally easy to find that balance. Utah, Kansas, and Iowa are the top three states for the worst work-life balance. A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that when companies actively support work-life balance, employees are more productive, healthier, and less likely to burn out. Recognizing these benefits, some employers are already making changes by implementing the four-day workweek, which will hopefully boost morale, productivity, and overall well-being by giving their employees more time to recharge.

States That Spend the Most Time on Leisure Activities

Once we have the extra free time, how we spend it plays a huge role in our overall happiness and health. The use of our time can also reveal a lot about our interests, our values, and even our community. While you may prioritize hitting the gym or exploring new cities, others may prefer to spend their time volunteering at a nonprofit or playing Solitaire online. Just like your individual preferences vary from your neighbor, so do those among people across the U.S., depending on the culture, climate, and lifestyle of the residents.

In California and Pennsylvania, residents spend the most leisure time on religious and spiritual activities. This shows that for many people in those states, faith and reflection are a central part of daily life. In Indiana and Wisconsin, people like to spend their downtime the most by giving back to their community through volunteering.

For people in Nebraska and Missouri, socializing and relaxing is how they spend most of their leisure time. Whether that means gathering with friends, enjoying family time, or simply reading a good book on their couch, these residents value slowing down versus chasing the constant hustle. On the other hand, residents in California and Oklahoma love to spend their time being active, and spend the most leisure time on sports, exercise, and recreation activities. And residents in Iowa and Michigan spend the most leisure time traveling.

Ultimately, how we choose to spend our time reflects who we are and what we value. While your favorite leisure activities may vary from your neighbors, you each share the same goal of making the most of the time you have outside of work to live a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Add Gaming Bliss to Your Leisure Activities List

Whether you find the most balance by remaining active in your downtime or you spend a majority of your leisure time at home lounging, ensuring that you find a balance that works for you is important. Our jobs can be important to us, but at the end of the day, they are not meant to be our entire lives.

Having activities you enjoy outside of office hours can help you to not only unwind after work, but it can also recharge you to feel better prepared for the next work day. At Solitaire Bliss, we offer online games so you can enjoy a leisurely activity anywhere, anytime. So the next time you are looking for a way to relax during your leisure time, try your hand at a game of FreeCell, Spider Solitaire, or one of our many other games.

Methodology

In this study, we set out to learn where Americans exhibit the best work-life balance. To do this, we collected data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Time Use Survey and analyzed time spent on work and work-related activities compared to time spent on leisure activities. For this report, we included time spent on telephone calls, religious and spiritual activities, socializing and relaxing, sports, exercise and recreation, traveling, and volunteer activities for our leisure analysis.

We first calculated the average time in minutes spent on work and leisure by state. We then divided the average work time by the average leisure time in each state to create a work-life balance ratio. Then we ranked states from the lowest to the highest ratio to show where people are experiencing the best work-life balance. Additionally, we also calculated the average time by state spent on each leisure activity and ranked states from the most to least time spent on each activity.

Overall, our study focused on Americans who work full-time jobs, and we included time tracked from each day of the week (seven days in total). Due to a lack of available data, Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming were not included in this report.