on the clock

3 Dallas-area cities hustle as top 10 hardest-working places in U.S.

Dallasites are the fourth most hardworking Americans, the report said.

North Texas residents living in Irving, Dallas, and Arlington are truly some of the most industrious Americans in the country, according to a new WalletHub study ranking the "Hardest-Working Cities in America" in 2025.

Irving and Dallas land at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, and Arlington comes in at No. 10 out of the 116 U.S. cities included in the report.

Three more Dallas-Fort Worth cities also rank among the top 25: Plano (No. 13), Fort Worth (No. 16), and Garland (No. 21).

WalletHub evaluated each city based on 11 key indicators across "direct" and "indirect" work factors, such as an individual's average workweek hours, average commute times, employment rates, and more.

Anchorage, Alaska (No. 1) and Washington, D.C. (No. 2) were the only two U.S. cities that outperformed Irving and Dallas, and Cheyenne, Wyoming rounded out the top five.

The report's findings show Irving has the smallest share of households where no adults are employed – at just 12 percent – which is the lowest rate nationwide. The city also has the third-highest percentage of committed workers that are enthusiastic about their jobs. That's a huge plus for the local community because it means residents are happy with their careers and their employers.

"Hard work is the backbone of America’s economy and a big reason why the country has become so successful, as Americans outwork people in many other developed economies," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

In 2024, Texas proved its tenacity on WalletHub's top 10 list of the most hardworking states in America.

The nearby techy Dallas suburb of Frisco has also shown its diligence as the No. 1 hotspot for remote workers in the U.S.

But being a hard working American can have its downsides, such as less time at home with families and less time for winding down after a long day. Irving workers know that feeling all too well, according to the study.

"One consequence of Irving residents’ hard work is the fact that they have a much lower amount of leisure time compared to people in most cities, the sixth-least in the nation," the report says. "While Irving workers should be applauded for their dedication, it’s also important to avoid overwork and take some time to relax."

Between 40 and 64 percent of Americans don't use all of their allotted vacation time, Lupo added, which can negatively affect an individual's mental and physical health.

Other industrious cities in Texas
Austin also worked its way into WalletHub's top 10 list of the most hardworking American cities, landing in the No. 6 spot.

Six additional Texas cities that earned spots in the report include Corpus Christi (No. 14), Laredo (No. 15), Houston (No. 28), Lubbock (No. 38), El Paso (No. 39), and San Antonio (No. 47).

The top 10 most hardworking cities in America for 2025 are:

No. 1 – Anchorage, Alaska
No. 2 – Washington, D.C.
No. 3 – Irving, Texas
No. 4 – Dallas, Texas
No. 5 – Cheyenne, Wyoming
No. 6 – Austin, Texas
No. 7 – Denver, Colorado
No. 8 – Virginia Beach, Virginia
No. 9 – San Francisco, California
No. 10 – Arlington, Texas

dallas irving wallethub rankings reports

TALL TALES

Missing giraffe turns into Texas Hill Country's tallest mystery

Real Country Animal Rescue/ Facebook

Where can Gracie be?

A giraffe named Gracie is missing in Texas, and the search for her has become a tall order.

Gracie, who is about 3 years old, has been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch in the Texas Hill Country, said Vic Jones, who owns the remote property about 100 miles west of San Antonio. He said Wednesday, June 24 that Gracie had wandered into a part of the privately owned preserve that other giraffes previously avoided.

Jones said he has sent up helicopters to look for Gracie, a few sightings have trickled in, and a $5,000 reward is on the table.

But the giraffe, which stands roughly the height of a tree, hasn't turned up.

“She wound up going up and feeding in an area on the hillside and the rocky ledges that none of the other giraffes had ever gone on before,” Jones said. “And when she came down off of there, she came down on the wrong side of the gate.”

The ranch is in rural Real County, where its roughly 2,700 residents were put on alert to be on the lookout for a missing giraffe. Jones said the search area is extremely remote, and the likelihood of Gracie encountering any humans is low.

“People are not in danger of her because she’s not around people,” Jones said. 'She’s out in very, very rough, heavily wooded lands."

The Texas Hill Country has one of the largest concentrations of exotic captive animals in the country. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson said the mild climate and rugged terrain seems to serve as a good stand-in for most of the animals' native African environments.

He rattled off a list of animals that have gone missing over the years, especially after floods, but said this was his first giraffe.

“I’ve had wildebeests, I've had water buffalo, I've had monkeys, I’ve had zebras, all go missing,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we recover them, and sometimes we don’t.”

While the middle of Texas is not a giraffe's native environment, Jones said Gracie should be able to find plenty of leaves and other vegetation to eat. He said other animals were not likely to bother her.

Jones said he initially had helicopters searching an area of about 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) with no luck. A few days later, there was a report that Gracie was spotted to the south.

But by the time they could search the area, Jones said, she was already gone.

“We're always two three days late for where the information is coming from, so that makes it tough,” Jones said.

hill country giraffes animals

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TALL TALES

Missing giraffe turns into Texas Hill Country's tallest mystery