Stress. What does that word mean to you? Some feel stress when the feeling of uncertainty overwhelms. Bills start piling up, money falls short and the future begins to look bleak. Worry takes over. Worry and stress causes one to overthink life and past mistakes. And then most or some will talk their selves out of it and escape the paranoia. One cannot let negative thoughts take over. But every once in a while it happens.
Everyone gets stressed out every once in a while…right? Depending on where you live you could be suffering from stress more than someone else in another city. Our good friends at WalletHub took a look at 150 different cities and compared the stress level within each city. Researchers analyzed job work load, bills, married or divorced and suicide rate. Check it out below.
With stress affecting more than 100 million Americans and costing our society more than $300 billion in annual health spending, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis to determine 2016’s Most & Least Stressed Cities in America.
In order to identify where Americans cope with stress better than others, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 150 largest cities across 27 key metrics. Our data set ranges from average work hours to debt load to divorce and suicide rates.
Most Stressed Cities Least Stressed Cities
1 Detroit, MI 141 San Diego, CA
2 Mobile, AL 142 Sioux Falls, SD
3 Birmingham, AL 143 Overland Park, KS
4 Memphis, TN 144 Plano, TX
5 Cleveland, OH 145 San Francisco, CA
6 Shreveport, LA 146 San Jose, CA
7 Columbus, GA 147 Madison, WI
8 New Orleans, LA 148 Honolulu, HI
9 Newark, NJ 149 Irvine, CA
10 Montgomery, AL 150 Fremont, CA
Best vs. Worst
Greensboro, N.C., has the lowest commuter stress index, 1.11, which is nearly 1.5 times lower than in Los Angeles, the city with the highest, 1.62.
Lincoln, Neb., has the lowest unemployment rate, 2.5 percent, which is about five times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest, 12.4 percent.
Overland Park, Kan., has the lowest poverty rate, 6.0 percent, which is nearly seven times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest, 39.8 percent.
Fremont, Calif., has the lowest divorce rate, 12.24 percent, which is about three times lower than in Cleveland, the city with the highest, 41.29 percent.
Seattle has the lowest percentage of single parents, 9.54 percent, which is about four times lower than in Newark, N.J., the city with the highest, 37.79 percent.
Minneapolis has the lowest percentage of adults in fair or poor health, 10.77 percent, which is about two times lower than in Mobile, Ala., the city with the highest, 25.71 percent.
Irvine, Calif., has the lowest number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents, 0.49, which is more than 40 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest, 19.89.
Fresno, Calif., has the most psychologists per 100,000 residents, 80.1, which is about 22 times more than in Baton Rouge, La., the city with the fewest, 3.7.
For the full report and to see where your city ranks, please visit: WalletHub: Most & Least Stressed Cities