Most Stressful Cities

Sperling's Best Places ^ | 2/19/05 | Sperling's Best Places

[dixiechick2000]

"6 Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA"


HA! I knew it.

[lawgirl]

Hm my Milwaukee is 46. That's about right. And they are dead on with STL- gosh i hated living there. I'd push it way up there!

[ex-Texan]

Portland is a city living in the grip of an organized crime syndicate that has taken over and perverted the entire Court system. 'Nuff said on this message board.

[GeronL]

meaningless. Who gets to be the judge??? whats the criteria??

These things are stupid.

[discostu]

Tucson's 30?! Are they drunk?! This is manana city. Most mellow place I've ever been in.

[OldFriend]

Blue blue, their world is blue.

Get red and get happy.

[dixiechick2000]

Jackson isn't on the list.

Y'all are blessed with no stress. ;o)


"39 Nashville, TN"


You're a bit more stressed out than the MS folks, wardaddy.


"61 Oklahoma City, OK"


Not shabby, Magnolia.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Just for fun I punched in LA and Chicago.

Among all the REGULAR SHOULD BE THERE stats...at the bottom of the list is Starbucks. How many Starbucks there are.

HA!

[goodnesswins]

I live in the outskirts of Tacoma (for another 3 weeks - we're moving 10 miles east to a condo).....there is downtown Tacoma, and then there are the outskirts of Tacoma.....BIG Differences!

[dixiechick2000]

"Portland is a city living in the grip of an organized crime syndicate that has taken over and perverted the entire Court system. 'Nuff said on this message board."


'Nuff said, and it was well said. ;o)

[Porterville]

I wouldn't have anything to do with any of them.

[Lazamataz]

Boy, does this site rate 'em correct, or what.

My old home town, Rochester, is at 89. It was a very low-stress city.

Atlanta, my current town, is 43. A little more stressful, but the jobs are here, and it's certainly manageable.

Chicago, a place I was at for 2 years and a few months, was in the 20's. Yes, it was stressful as heck there.

[spinestein]

As far as I'm concerned, a city is to be visited, but never lived in.

[moehoward]

Washington state 1, 6 and 11. I got to get out of here!

[RockinRight]

Akron, OH at number 74. Wonder what criteria were used?

[Lokibob]

Follow the links:

 

Stressful Cities Methodology

All places (Metropolitan Statistical Areas or MSAs) received points for each of the study criteria based on their relation to the other MSAs' scores in that data category. To maintain consistency throughout the study, the most significant data element for any given category (that which implied the most stress) received a score of 100 points. The data element for any given category which was associated with the least stress received a score of 0 points. The remaining cities were assigned point values between 0 and 100 based on their data element's percentage of the range between the most desirable score in that category and the least desirable score in that category. In this way, the point values assigned to cities preserve the proportionality of the data points in relation to the data set while providing a common point scale.

Categories

There were nine data categories in this study:

• Divorce rate - the percent of the metro area's population over the age of 16 which are currently divorces, and have not remarried.
• Unemployment rate - the percent of the metro area's workforce which are seeking a job, but are currently unemployed.
• Commute time - the average time for a one-way commute to the place of work.
• Violent crime - the rate of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Violent crimes include murder, rape, assault, and robbery.
• Property crime - the rate of property (non-violent) crimes per 100,000 residents. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, and auto theft.
• Suicide rate - the per-capita rate of the population which have taken their own life.
• Alcohol consumption - the self-reported number of alcoholic drinks per month consumed by adult residents.
• Mental health - the self-reported number of days per month where one's "mental health was not good." The complete question was "Thinking about your mental health, which includes stress, depression, and problems with emotions, for how many days during the past 30 days was your mental health not good?"
• Cloudy days - the number of days per year which were partially cloudy or completely overcast.

Weightings

The nine categories were weighted as to their importance to the study:

• Those categories considered most significant were unemployment rate, crime, commute time, and suicide.
• Of moderate importance were the categories of divorce and mental health.
• Those categories weighted with the least importance were cloudy days and alcohol consumption.

Data Sources

• Divorce rate - 2000 Census, with 2002 estimates based on the Current Population Survey
• Unemployment rate - Bureau of Labor Statistics, October, 2003
• Communte time - 2000 Census
• Violent and Property crime - FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 2002. Released November 2003, with additional analysis by Sperling's BestPlaces.
• Suicide rate - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC Wonder Compressed Mortality Data, 2000
• Alcohol consumption and Mental Health - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001-2002
• Cloudy days - National Climatic Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Tuba-Dude]

Gah, I knew living here in Vancouver is half the reason why I'm constantly stressed and PO'd. Luckily I'll be moving to number 61 (well, a fine college in a little suburb called Norman) this fall.

[AF68]

Amen to St. Louis. Now they have two mental cases running for mayor up there; both are Rats. One is a suicidal nutball and the other is an infamous alderwoman who pees in wastebaskets.

[dixiechick2000]

"Luckily I'll be moving to number 61 (well, a fine college in a little suburb called Norman) this fall."


Ahhhh...you are truly blessed.
Enjoy!