Top 125 U.S. Cities Leading the 5AM Club

Every January brings a new wave of “new year, new routine” ambition, and the 5AM Club always seems to be part of that conversation.

For office workers, freelancers, and anyone who lives inside email, PDFs, and endless screens, those early hours are often the only quiet time to think, read, and plan before the day’s notifications kick in.

But away from the motivational quotes and sunrise selfies, there’s a real question worth asking: where in the US are people genuinely embracing early-morning discipline, and where does the day begin at a far more civilised hour?

Looking at the last 10,000 Instagram hashtags across 250 U.S. Cities, a few clear patterns emerge - some expected, others genuinely surprising.

The table below reveals which U.S. cities post about the #5amclub most frequently on Instagram, per 10,000 posts.

Ranking	City	State	Number of #5amclub hashtags per 10,000 posts
1	New York	New York	92.0
2	Los Angeles	California	91.4
3	Chicago	Illinois	90.8
4	Houston	Texas	90.1
5	San Diego	California	89.5
6	Phoenix	Arizona	88.9
7	Dallas	Texas	88.2
8	San Antonio	Texas	87.6
9	Austin	Texas	86.9
10	San Francisco	California	86.1
11	Seattle	Washington	85.4
12	Denver	Colorado	84.7
13	El Paso	Texas	84.3
14	Miami	Florida	84.0
15	Atlanta	Georgia	83.5
16	Las Vegas	Nevada	83.0
17	Boston	Massachusetts	82.6
18	Portland	Oregon	82.1
19	North Las Vegas	Nevada	82.0
20	Washington	D.C	81.7
21	Nashville-Davidson	Tennessee	81.2
22	San Jose	California	80.8
23	Charlotte	North Carolina	80.3
24	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	79.9
25	Orlando	Florida	79.4
26	Tampa	Florida	78.9
27	Minneapolis	Minnesota	78.3
28	Portland	Maine	77.8
29	Salt Lake City	Utah	77.2
30	Raleigh	North Carolina	76.7
31	Columbus	Ohio	76.0
32	Kansas City	Missouri	75.5
33	Virginia Beach	Virginia	75.0
34	Sacramento	California	74.6
35	Chesapeake	Virginia	74.2
36	Long Beach	California	74.1
37	Oakland	California	73.7
38	Baltimore	Maryland	73.2
39	Fresno	California	72.8
40	Mesa	Arizona	72.1
41	Colorado Springs	Colorado	71.6
42	Omaha	Nebraska	71.1
43	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	70.5
44	Milwaukee	Wisconsin	69.9
45	Irvine	California	69.5
46	Honolulu	Hawaii	69.0
47	Albuquerque	New Mexico	68.6
48	Chandler	Arizona	68.1
49	Scottsdale	Arizona	67.7
50	Henderson	Nevada	67.2
51	Arlington	Texas	66.8
52	Plano	Texas	66.3
53	Boise City	Idaho	65.9
54	Madison	Wisconsin	65.4
55	New Orleans	Louisiana	64.9
56	Anaheim	California	64.3
57	Riverside	California	63.8
58	Lexington-Fayette	Kentucky	63.4
59	Greensboro	North Carolina	63.1
60	Buffalo	New York	62.7
61	Tulsa	Oklahoma	62.4
62	Cincinnati	Ohio	62.0
63	Glendale	California	61.8
64	Santa Ana	California	61.6
65	St. Paul	Minnesota	61.3
66	Anchorage	Alaska	61.0
67	Durham	North Carolina	60.7
68	Chula Vista	California	60.3
69	Gilbert	Arizona	60.0
70	Reno	Nevada	59.7
71	Fort Worth	Texas	59.3
72	Jacksonville	Florida	59.0
73	Wichita	Kansas	58.7
74	Bakersfield	California	58.4
75	Knoxville	Tennessee	58.1
76	Fort Lauderdale	Florida	57.7
77	Spokane	Washington	57.4
78	Hialeah	Florida	57.0
79	Tucson	Arizona	56.7
80	Richmond	Virginia	56.3
81	Worcester	Massachusetts	56.0
82	Fayetteville	North Carolina	55.6
83	Lincoln	Nebraska	55.3
84	Corpus Christi	Texas	54.9
85	Newark	New Jersey	54.2
86	Santa Clarita	California	53.8
87	Tacoma	Washington	53.5
88	Huntsville	Alabama	53.1
89	Baton Rouge	Louisiana	52.8
90	Des Moines	Iowa	52.5
91	Rochester	New York	52.1
92	Yonkers	New York	51.8
93	St Louis	Missouri	51.5
94	McKinney	Texas	51.4
95	Augusta-Richmond	Georgia	51.1
96	Columbus	Georgia	50.8
97	Tallahassee	Florida	50.4
98	Sioux Falls	South Dakota	50.0
99	Amarillo	Texas	49.7
100	Oxnard	California	49.3
101	Peoria	Arizona	49.0
102	Montgomery	Alabama	48.6
103	Grand Rapids	Michigan	48.3
104	Vancouver	Washington	48.0
105	Providence	Rhode Island	47.7
106	Brownsville	Texas	47.4
107	Akron	Ohio	47.1
108	Tempe	Arizona	46.7
109	Newport News	Virginia	46.3
110	Mobile	Alabama	46.0
111	Cary	North Carolina	45.7
112	Shreveport	Louisiana	45.3
113	Ontario	California	44.9
114	Eugene	Oregon	44.6
115	Aurora	Illinois	44.3
116	Elk Grove	California	44.0
117	Salem	Oregon	43.6
118	Santa Rosa	California	43.3
119	Clarksville	Tennessee	43.0
120	Rancho Cucamonga	California	42.6
121	Oceanside	California	42.3
122	Lancaster	California	42.0
123	Palmdale	California	41.7
124	Murfreesboro	Tennessee	41.3
125	Killeen	Texas	41.0

Methodology: This study analysed Instagram activity across the 250 most populated cities in the United States to assess where the “5AM Club” mindset appears most prominently. Conducted in December 2025, the research examined public Instagram posts using the hashtag #5amclub and measured its frequency per 10,000 posts in each city to allow for fair comparison between locations of different sizes. Posts were attributed to cities using location tags, user profile locations, and contextual indicators where available. By standardising results in this way, the study highlights where early-morning productivity culture is most visible relative to overall social media activity, offering a clear snapshot of how the 5AM Club ethos shows up across urban America.

Key Findings

Big cities don’t just wake up early - they get pulled into it.

New York, LA, Chicago, Houston… the usual heavyweights sit right at the top. It doesn’t take a productivity sermon to explain it.

Long commutes, weird shift patterns, and the general pressure of living somewhere expensive push people into early starts, whether they planned them or not. For many, 5AM isn’t a “mindset”; it’s the only time to scan overnight emails, review a contract on their phone, or get through a few documents before the commute begins.

The #5amclub hashtag simply reflects that reality.

The coasts are early, but for very different reasons.

East Coast mornings feel functional: people get up early because the day demands it.
West Coast mornings, judging by the posts, lean more into lifestyle – workouts by the water, pre-dawn hikes, a quick run before the heat settles in: same hour, different vibe.

Climate absolutely shapes morning habits.

Phoenix and Las Vegas have plenty of 5AM activity, but it often has nothing to do with self-improvement.

When half the year feels like standing inside an oven, early mornings become the only practical time to move around outside. Sunrise is less a symbol of discipline and more a necessity.

Tourism-heavy cities post more early content.

Miami, Orlando, Vegas, Tampa – all ranked fairly high. Part of that is hospitality shifts, part of it is people trying to get things done before the crowds (or the humidity) settle in.

You see plenty of posts from workers and travellers alike squeezing in admin before the day starts: boarding passes, itineraries, tickets, and reservations – the kind of things that now live almost entirely in digital documents.

It’s not exactly the “hustle culture” message people imagine, but it shows up in the numbers anyway.

California is a patchwork of extremes.

San Francisco, LA, San Diego, and San Jose – all also ranked very high. Then you scroll down the list and hit cities like Stockton, Inglewood, Burbank, and Santa Maria… which ranked much lower.

The contrast suggests a state where tech and fitness-heavy hubs are pulling the average up, while suburban or commuter cities follow a completely different rhythm.

The lowest-scoring cities tend to share one thing: calmer mornings.

Medford, Springfield (MA), Bellevue (NE), the Alabama pair of Auburn and Hoover, and Colorado’s trio at the bottom – these are places where people simply don’t rush.

They typically have shorter commutes, a slower pace of life, and fewer industries that prompt people to wake up super early.

In those cities, there’s less incentive to process your inbox, documents, or to-do list while it’s still dark outside – because life doesn’t demand it.

Final Thoughts

Looking across the data, what stands out isn’t who’s “winning” the morning but how differently people experience it depending on where they live.

In some parts of the country, such as big urban areas or those with a year-round outdoor culture, early starts are very much part of the culture. Mornings are a blend of movement and quiet digital work: checking schedules, reviewing files, and getting mentally organised before the rest of the world wakes up.

On the other hand, there is no real incentive to begin the day before the sun rises. The data doesn’t reveal which workers are most motivated or disciplined. Rather, it shows how varied daily life is across the country.