Earlier we reported on a story showing North Dakota was ranked as one of the states that do not use all of our vacation time, leaving our employer with hours unused and money you left on the table.

Now another survey is released reporting the most relaxed states in the country conducted by Coleman Furniture and North Dakota ranks fairly high as being very relaxed or CHILL.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the average worker in the U.S. has about 3.5 hours of leisure time every day. And the national furniture chain, Coleman Furniture decided, since relaxation is part of their business, they used the statistics from the BLS to determine the states with the most and the least amount of free time or leisure time. From there, Coleman ranked the states and the results are very interesting.

From the story we reported earlier, the states that use the most and least vacation time annually, North Dakota ranked high on the list of the states that take the least amount of vacation, meaning, we are a hard working state.

Now, take a look at the results from the Coleman study and North Dakota ranks #12 as one of the most relaxed states in the country, or one of the states with the most leisure time. It seems like these two reports are contradicting each other. Nevertheless, here are the results of the Coleman Furniture survey.

The states with the most leisure time are-

  1. Maine
  2. Wisconsin
  3. Alaska
  4. Michigan
  5. Utah

The state with the least amount of free time are Virginia, Maryland, Texas and New Hampshire.

Coleman Furniture used the numbers from the BLS and then gauged the amount of time worked during the week, time off, time commuting to and from work and vacation time to determine the ranking for each state.

You can view the complete list here.

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