Parade magazine votes Bloomington as 4th hardest-working town in U.S.

Bloomington is America’s fourth hardest-working town, according to a survey published this week in Parade magazine.

“First of all, we have some really exciting industries in Monroe County, and those are industries focused on innovation,” President and CEO of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce Christy Gillenwater said. “We have an educated population, which has helped with Indiana University housed here.”

Gillenwater also said a strong school system and a local tradition of farming and hard work are reasons why Bloomington Hoosiers received recognition.

“They may not clock as many hours as some towns (an average of 34.5 per week), but the people of Bloomington love what they do,” Parade magazine said on its website. “They ranked first on the likelihood of working weekends (an astounding 15 points above the national average) and fifth on the willingness to sacrifice personal time for work. And that 7.3 percent unemployment isn’t so bad either.”

The magazine reviewed a number of factors before putting together the rankings. It looked at numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on unemployment and hours worked on an average week per capita both locally and nationally, market research from firms Mediamark Research Inc. and Claritas provided information about workers’ willingness to work during personal time and the U.S. Census Bureau provided information on how many two-income households were in any given town.

Other top-ranking towns included Columbia, Mo., Hartford, Conn. and Norfolk, Va.

“Bloomington is blessed by a lot of different great aspects, and we are recognized often,” Gillenwater said. “I don’t think it is surprising, per se, by any means.”

— Charles Scudder