HARDEST WORKING TOWNS

With everything Labor Day has come to symbolize the end of summer, the beginning of the school year, a weekend of good deals at the mall. It can be easy to forget its purpose: to celebrate workers' contributions to America. Americans everywhere work hard, but in honor of the holiday, SpareFoot.com crunched some numbers recently and found the metro areas where the hardest-working Americans live.

Here is SpareFoot's list of the 12 Hardest-Working Towns in America:

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul

Residents here don't actually work the longest hours, although they're close. The Twin Cities won because of how likely residents are to have two jobs or to be part of dual-income families. Also, the share of the population that doesn't work at all is small.

2. Madison, WI

The percentage of people who don't work at all in Madison is lower here than anywhere else among the 100 biggest metro areas in the U.S. On top of that, the total number of hours worked per capita is higher here than anywhere else.

3. Omaha, NE

Residents of Warren Buffett's hometown are more likely to have several jobs than they are anywhere else among the top 100 metro areas. That stat, combined with a relatively long average workweek, puts Omaha in third place on our list.

4. Des Moines, IA

People who live in and around the capital of Iowa enjoy relatively short commute times, but their total work-plus-commuting hours still top those of residents of many of the towns on our list.

5. Denver

The total number of hours worked per capita (including commuting time) in the Mile High City is equal to the number in our winner, Minneapolis-St. Paul. However, the percentage of the population that doesn't work at all kept Denver from climbing further up our list.

6. Washington, DC

Our nation's capital is home to the longest average workweek and longest average commute among our top 12 towns. It also beats out all 100 metro areas in terms of the total number of hours worked per capita (including commuting time).

7. Hartford, CT

The capital of Connecticut beat out the rest of our top 12 towns in terms of the share of dual-income families. In addition, a fair share of people work part-time for economic reasons, which can indicate a willingness to work even when the job market isn't ideal.

8. Milwaukee

Brew Town made our list mainly for its solid marks across all the data points we measured, rather than standing out in any one area, and partly because residents here are quite likely to hold down more than one job.

9. Wichita, KS

Residents of the largest city in Kansas work fairly long hours and are even more likely than residents of Milwaukee to hold more than one job.

10. Boston

Bean Town is home to lots of dual-income families as well as relatively long commutes. At the same time, more people work part-time for economic reasons here than anywhere else among our top 12 towns.

11. Honolulu

Residents here work almost as many hours in a week as residents of Washington, DC, but their commute times are a little shorter. And the percentage of people who don't work at all is higher here than it is in nine of our top 12 towns. Of course, Hawaii is more of a retirement destination than the District of Columbia is.

12. Columbus, OH

Ohio's capital has a high percentage of dual-income families, but it also has the second-highest percentage, among our top 12 towns, of people who do not work at all.

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