Which US States Sleep the Least? Short Sleep by State, Ranked

About 35% of US adults sleep less than the recommended 7 hours a night, according to the CDC’s 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. But it varies a lot by state: Hawaii has the highest share, 45.6%, followed by West Virginia (41.3%) and Alabama (40.5%). Minnesota and Vermont have the lowest, 29.6%.

All 50 states, ranked

Rank	State	Adults sleeping less than 7 hours
1	Minnesota	29.6%
1	Vermont	29.6%
3	Colorado	30.3%
4	Nebraska	30.6%
5	Oregon	30.9%
6	South Dakota	31.2%
7	Montana	31.7%
8	Wyoming	32.3%
9	Washington	32.4%
10	Idaho	32.5%
11	Maine	32.7%
11	Massachusetts	32.7%
13	New Mexico	32.8%
13	Wisconsin	32.8%
15	Iowa	32.9%
16	New Hampshire	33.0%
17	North Dakota	33.2%
18	North Carolina	34.1%
19	Utah	34.2%
20	Arizona	34.8%
20	California	34.8%
22	Michigan	35.2%
23	South Carolina	35.4%
24	Kansas	35.5%
24	Oklahoma	35.5%
26	Delaware	35.6%
26	Rhode Island	35.6%
28	Connecticut	35.7%
29	Illinois	36.0%
30	Virginia	36.2%
31	Missouri	36.8%
32	Texas	36.9%
33	Alaska	37.1%
33	Pennsylvania	37.1%
35	Florida	37.4%
35	New Jersey	37.4%
37	Indiana	37.7%
38	Mississippi	37.8%
39	Maryland	38.0%
40	Georgia	38.1%
41	New York	38.4%
42	Ohio	38.5%
43	Arkansas	38.7%
44	Tennessee	38.8%
45	Nevada	38.9%
46	Kentucky	39.3%
47	Louisiana	39.8%
48	Alabama	40.5%
49	West Virginia	41.3%
50	Hawaii	45.6%

The District of Columbia, not ranked, is 31.9%.

Patterns in the data

• The upper Midwest and Mountain West sleep the most. Nine of the ten states with the lowest rates of short sleep are in the Midwest or West.
• The Southeast and Appalachia sleep the least. West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas all rank in the bottom ten.
• Hawaii is an outlier, more than 4 points worse than any other state. The CDC reports that Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults have the highest rate of short sleep of any group, at 49%.

Who gets too little sleep?

According to the CDC and America’s Health Rankings, short sleep is more common among:

• adults aged 18 to 64 than among those 65 and older (39% of adults aged 45 to 64 sleep less than 7 hours)
• people with lower incomes and less education
• people who work long hours: 48% of employed adults working more than 60 hours a week slept less than 7 hours in 2022, compared with 29% of those working 40 hours or less
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Black, multiracial, and American Indian or Alaska Native adults

Why some states sleep less

The data show where people report short sleep, not why. Researchers have linked short sleep to long or irregular work hours, shift work, long commutes, poverty, poor health and obesity, which vary between states. Position in the time zone may also play a part: a study of fatal crashes after the daylight saving time change found that people on the western edge of a time zone, where the sun rises and sets later by the clock, get about 19 minutes less sleep a day on average.

How we made this ranking

The figures are the percentage of adults who said they usually sleep less than 7 hours in a 24-hour period, from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey for 2022, as published by America’s Health Rankings. The survey is self-reported, and differences of less than about 1 percentage point between states may not be meaningful.

If you’re one of the 1 in 3, start with the sleep calculator to find a bedtime that gives you 7.5 hours.

Sources

• America’s Health Rankings, United Health Foundation: Insufficient sleep (CDC BRFSS, 2022)
• CDC: FastStats: sleep in adults
• CDC MMWR: Percentage of employed adults who slept less than 7 hours, by number of work hours per week, 2022
• Fritz J et al. Current Biology, 2020. Summary: Sleep Review

Frequently asked questions

Which state gets the most sleep?

Minnesota and Vermont, where 29.6% of adults sleep less than 7 hours.

Which state gets the least sleep?

Hawaii, where 45.6% of adults sleep less than 7 hours.

What percentage of Americans don’t get enough sleep?

About 35%, or roughly 1 in 3 adults.