A new report about vacation days reveals that more than half of American employees left unused last year. The 662 million days left unused last year—and their implications for individual employees and workplaces alike—are not felt evenly across America. Project: Time Off's new report, Under-Vacationed America: An Analysis of the States and Cities That Need to Take a Day, provides a look at the vacation behavior in all 50 states and the 30-largest metro areas in the country.
Idaho, New Hampshire, and Alaska hold the top spots for the states with the most workers leaving vacation unused. Looking at cities, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, CA, and Tampa, FL are home to some of the most under-vacationed employees in America.
Unfortunately, many of the areas seeing the worst vacation usage are home to cultures where employees report hearing negative or mixed messages about time off. Where just 17 percent of workers nationally say their company sends negative or mixed messages, the majority of the states in the top ten for leaving unused vacation are more likely to agree, most notably Alaskan workers at 28 percent.
There are some states and cities that are better at vacation usage. Maine, Hawaii, and Arizona top the list of states with employees who are least likely to leave vacation time on the table. For cities, Pittsburgh, PA, Chicago, IL, and Phoenix, AZ are home to employees who take more of their earned time off.
The places where employees use the most vacation tend to have work cultures that encourage time off, enjoy lower fear and anxiety about being away, and are less susceptible to the stress and pressures of being away.
| Five States with the Most Unused Vacation | |||
| STATE | % WITH UNUSED DAYS | UNUSED VACATION DAYS | DIRECT SPENDING POTENTIAL |
| Idaho | 78% | 3.1 million | $433 million |
| New Hampshire | 77% | 2.7 million | $552 million |
| Alaska | 73% | 1.7 million | $651 million |
| South Dakota | 73% | 1.8 million | $404 million |
| Oklahoma | 69% | 9.7 million | $690 million |
| Five States with the Least Unused Vacation | |||
| STATE | % WITH UNUSED DAYS | UNUSED VACATION DAYS | DIRECT SPENDING POTENTIAL |
| Maine | 38% | 2.6 million | $700 million |
| Hawaii | 39% | 3.3 million | $4.4 billion |
| Arizona | 41% | 11.4 million | $3.2 billion |
| Alabama | 41% | 10.1 million | $818 million |
| Wisconsin | 44% | 10.6 million | $1.6 billion |
| Five Cities with the Most Unused Vacation | |||
| CITY | % WITH UNUSED DAYS | UNUSED VACATION DAYS | DIRECT SPENDING POTENTIAL |
| Washington, D.C. | 64% | 17.3 million | $3.8 billion |
| San Francisco, CA | 64% | 12.8 million | $3.1 billion |
| Tampa, FL | 62% | 5.1 million | $1.2 billion |
| Los Angeles, CA | 62% | 32.5 million | $6.4 billion |
| Boston, MA | 61% | 11.6 million | $2.4 billion |
| Five Cities with the Least Unused Vacation | |||
| CITY | % WITH UNUSED DAYS | UNUSED VACATION DAYS | DIRECT SPENDING POTENTIAL |
| Pittsburgh, PA | 40% | 4.6 million | $696 million |
| Chicago, IL | 44% | 18.2 million | $3.5 billion |
| Phoenix, AZ | 44% | 8.2 million | $1.6 billion |
| Orlando, FL | 45% | 4.7 million | $3.4 billion |
| Miami, FL | 45% | 10.2 million | $2.4 billion |
See report for full rankings.
Nationwide, U.S. workers took an average of 16.8 days of vacation in 2016, turning the trend line in a positive direction after losing almost a week of vacation time since 2000. This was up from 16.2 days in 2015. This, however, is a far cry from the 20.3 day long-term average from 1976 to 2000.
While Americans are taking more vacation time, there is also a slight increase in the number of days left unused. In 2016, 662 million vacation days were left on the table, four million days more than 2015. However, forfeited vacation days—time that cannot be rolled over, banked, or paid out—are down eight percent to 206 million forfeited days. Those forfeited days have a cost. Last year, employees gave up $66.4 billion in lost benefits, which translates to an average of $604 per employee.
