Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale ranked in the top 25 of hardest-working cities list

PHOENIX — Three communities in the East Valley were ranked in the top 25 hardest-working cities in the United States, according to a study released Tuesday.

WalletHub’s “Hardest-Working Cities in America (2026)” compared 116 of the most populated cities using two key aspects: direct work factors and indirect work factors.

Of the three communities, Chandler ranked the highest at 19th, followed by Gilbert landing at 21st and Scottsdale at 25th.

There were a few other Arizona cities scattered throughout the list, including Phoenix coming in 33rd, Glendale placing at 51st and Mesa ranking 67th. The least hard-working city in the Grand Canyon State was Tucson, which came in 97th.

Breaking down Arizona’s hardest-working cities rankings

The two categories that WalletHub used to compared cities included 11 different metrics, all adding up to a total score of 100.

Those measures look at things like how many hours people work each week, employment rates, how many households have no working adults, how much vacation time workers leave unused, how engaged people feel at their job, average commute times and how many people juggle more than one job.

Chandler had an overall score of 70.19, ranked 17th in direct work factors and 55th in indirect work factors. Meanwhile, Gilbert scored 69.85, came in 21st in direct work factors and 43rd in indirect work factors.

In addition, Scottsdale had a total score of 68.86, placed 22nd in direct work factors and 67th in indirect work factors.

As for other Arizona cities on the list, Phoenix got 67.70 points, Glendale received 65.29 points, Mesa recorded 63.32 points and Tucson brought up the rear with 56.36 points.

The city that took the top spot for the hardest-working city in the United States was Cheyenne, Wyoming. WalletHub attributed the city’s placement on the list to it ranking the highest for average work week length, averaging 40.7 hours per week, and having the fifth-highest amount of workers with multiple jobs.

It scored a total of 79.39 points, ranked second in director work factors and 12th in indirect work factors.

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