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I can only speak for myself, i'm born and raised in NC- a coastal state on the East Coast and I and DH both have a very strong work ethic. There aren't alot of high paying jobs in our small town, but everyone I know works their butts off for what they have. (excluding a few overly-entitled people i'd like to ship off to Cali ;P )

I do think there is a faster paced work style on the east coast than other areas of the country - not sure if that is what the article is trying (unsuccessfully) to refer to. My company has offices in the south, and it isn't that the workers don't work hard (they definitely do work hard!), but there is a difference between the offices. Things move at a much quicker pace in the north east in general...tons of people comment/complain about the difference.

When I lived in FL, it also felt "slower" paced than living/working in the northeast.

I call BS - that's an over generalization. I've worked on projects all over the country with employees from every major city in the US, and an employee's city of residence (or city where s/he grew up) had absolutely no impact on who worked hard and who didn't. Some of the best employees I've managed were from the firm's LA office, and one of the laziest, most obnoxious employees I've ever worked with grew up and lived in New York.

Maybe things just work differently on the two coasts. I don't like the generalization either. I was brought up in Hawaii and fit into East Coast life just fine because I've never been that laid back surfer type. There are lots of people like that in Hawaii but those that do not want that lifestyle might leave like I did. I think the West Coast is more laid back but I wouldn't say that people there lack work ethic.

I'm borderline offended by that as someone who isn't from the East Coast (not from California either). Until I went to law school, I worked very hard in my full-time job and always had a second part-time job. After law-school, I worked about 80 hours a week until I took a job that provided a better work-life balance.

Life may be slower-paced in othe geographic areas, but that doesn't mean people don't have a strong work ethic. Tere are people in everybody's of the country who are exceptional workers and poor workers.

i lived in california (la/sf) my entire life, and have been in new york for the past 8 years. i know it's a generalization, but i did find it to be generally true that people from california are more laid back than people from the east coast. my west coast friends are all so much more laid back than my east coast friends. nothing wrong with that -- i love both lifestyles!

i attribute the laid backness to the nice weather. when there is a beautiful day in new york, you have to take advantage of it. tomorrow could be humid, raining, snowing, etc. but every day is beautiful in california so you can be more laid back about doing things.

Blah I wrote a whole post and it got eaten!!

I grew up in Boston and worked on Wall Street before coming to Tennessee (where I still work for a global investment bank). When I first got here it was really hard for me to get used to the slower pace of things. It's not that people don't have work ethic here, but there is no focus on efficiency and people aren't nearly as competitive as they are in the northeast. Honestly, I think I'm better suited for a faster paced environment but I've adjusted as well as I can.

I'm in Canada, and people always compare Vancouver (west coast) and Toronto (east coast). There are probably more suit wearers in Toronto who have longer work hours and a highly organized structure, but it may just be because Toronto has a bigger financial sector, and that's what that industry calls for.

I don't think it necessarily mean the East Coast works harder than the West, the companies just put different values and focus on different things.

Oh, please. I'm from California and arguably one of the hardest workers I know. Not to mention that there are many transplants from the West Coast on the East Coast. Did they just magically grow a work ethic. I call bull!

I'd also like to think that the generalization that Californians are laid back certainly doesn't hold in my circles. Become a pre-med in California (or a med student) and you'll immediately see what I mean... and it was my friend at Netscape back in the day who found that when he responded to a survey about his work hours that there wasn't even an option for how many hours he worked. He was pulling 120 hour work weeks at the time.

@beka: yay midwest haha

I think work ethic can be good (or bad!) anywhere, but as far as lifestyles that generalization could be true.