70% of Americans say they don’t get enough sleep.
However, some workers have it worse than others. 44% of night shift workers get less than six hours of sleep nightly on average.
It got us thinking, are there some states as a whole where workers are more tired than others? Where the coffee flows copiously and yawns fill the rows of cubicles?
Using data from the National Safety Survey, we found the most (and least!) sleep deprived states.
Our Most Interesting Findings
- Hawaii is the most sleep-deprived state, with 44% of Hawaiians not getting enough sleep.
- Hawaii is followed by Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama in number of exhausted workers.
- In general, the west (and Midwest) in particular is fairly well rested, while the South and Northeast could use a nap.
- One possible reason the Midwest has the opportunity to sleep in? On average some of the shortest commutes in the country.
- South Dakota, Colorado, and Minnesota have the smallest percent of sleep deprived workers.
- In fact, the difference is pretty stark; Only 28% of South Dakota residents were classified as sleep deprived.
Most Sleep Deprived States
Least Sleep Deprived States
Scroll to the bottom to see the list of all 50 states, from most sleep deprived to least.
How We Determined This
The National Safety Council’s survey on sleep deprivation looked into both prevalence and outcomes of poor sleep.
Insufficient sleep was defined as under 6 hours a night. The chart- and data displayed- refers to workers who on average get less than 6 hours of sleep nightly. So this does not reflect one crummy night of sleep, or even a crummy night of sleep weekly.
The state level data comes from the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a state-based telephone survey of health-relatedbehaviors conducted annually in the U.S.10 See Table 2. The
fatigue calculator uses this data to estimate the prevalence of sleep deficiency across states.
Sleep Matters
While many may joke around the water cooler about being exhausted, being chronically sleep deprived can have serious consequences.
Not only can sleep make you sloppy at work and harm career opportunities, it can also contribute to dire outcomes such as car accidents and poor mental health.
If your job has you reliant on coffee and prayers to keep your eyes open, it might be time to look into a job with a shorter commute or schedule more conductive to sleep. Of course, you could always take a nice mid-day work nap to catch up on some zzzz’s.
States With The Most Sleep Deprived Workers, From Most To Least
| Rank | State | Percent Sleep Deprived |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | 44.0% |
| 2 | Kentucky | 38.9% |
| 3 | Georgia | 38.8% |
| 4 | Alabama | 38.5% |
| 4 | Maryland | 38.5% |
| 6 | New York | 38.1% |
| 7 | Indiana | 37.8% |
| 8 | South Carolina | 37.7% |
| 9 | Michigan | 37.5% |
| 10 | Delaware | 37.4% |
| 10 | West Virginia | 37.4% |
| 12 | New Jersey | 37.1% |
| 12 | Ohio | 37.1% |
| 14 | Pennsylvania | 36.8% |
| 15 | Tennessee | 36.7% |
| 16 | Arkansas | 36.5% |
| 17 | Mississippi | 36.4% |
| 18 | Nevada | 36.2% |
| 19 | Rhode Island | 36.1% |
| 20 | Virginia | 35.9% |
| 21 | Louisiana | 35.7% |
| 22 | Oklahoma | 35.2% |
| 23 | Alaska | 35.1% |
| 24 | Florida | 34.9% |
| 25 | Connecticut | 34.5% |
| 26 | Illinois | 34.2% |
| 27 | Massachusetts | 34.1% |
| 28 | California | 33.7% |
| 29 | Texas | 33.2% |
| 30 | Missouri | 33.1% |
| 31 | Arizona | 32.7% |
| 32 | North Carolina | 32.4% |
| 33 | Maine | 32.2% |
| 34 | New Hampshire | 32.0% |
| 35 | New Mexico | 31.6% |
| 35 | Washington | 31.6% |
| 37 | Wisconsin | 31.3% |
| 38 | Oregon | 31.2% |
| 39 | North Dakota | 31.0% |
| 39 | Utah | 31.0% |
| 39 | Wyoming | 31.0% |
| 42 | Kansas | 30.5% |
| 43 | Idaho | 30.3% |
| 43 | Vermont | 30.3% |
| 45 | Iowa | 30.2% |
| 46 | Montana | 30.0% |
| 46 | Nebraska | 30.0% |
| 48 | Minnesota | 28.9% |
| 49 | Colorado | 28.5% |
| 50 | South Dakota | 27.8% |
Author
Kathy is the head of content at Zippia with a knack for engaging audiences. Prior to joining Zippia, Kathy worked at Gateway Blend growing audiences across diverse brands. She graduated from Troy University with a degree in Social Science Education.
