Most Stressful Cities

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

[freedom44]

100 Largest Metro Areas (Ranked in order from most stressful to least stressful)
Rank Metro Area
1 Tacoma, WA
2 Miami, FL
3 New Orleans, LA
4 Las Vegas, NV-AZ
5 New York, NY
6 Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA
7 Mobile, AL
8 Stockton-Lodi, CA
9 Detroit, MI
10 Dallas, TX
11 Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
12 West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL
13 Houston, TX
14 Fort Lauderdale, FL
15 Riverside-San Bernardino, CA
16 St. Louis, MO-IL
17 Denver, CO
18 Jacksonville, FL
19 Jersey City, NJ
20 Phoenix-Mesa, AZ

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Not surprised New Orleans is rated so high...Big Easy has lots of problems with drugs, alcohol, crime...One of the reasons I left so easily when it was time because of those factors...Still miss it, even with all the problems...

did you ever stand and shiver, just because you were looking at a river?

I loved Houston, but the air pollution is a killer...But I suspect given half a chance, I'd move back there tomorrow...at least for the cool months of the year...

[OldFriend]

That peeing dame is running for Mayor?

[GeronL]

So that proves my point, really is useless.

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.

---

Cloudy days?? BTW- I thought alcohol was supposed to relieve stress?? Suicide?? Those people aren't stressed anymore. Commute time?? There was a 'study' a few days ago that said people enjoyed the commute as the most peaceful part of their day! Unemployment?? No job to be stressed about. Divorce rate?? People get divorced because of stress, the higher the rate the less stress there is .

Thats how I see it

[dixiechick2000]

I just looked at your homepage.

You're going to the RIGHT UofO. ;o)
I wish you well.

[GeronL]

I bet we'll be hearing about that town in the news no matter which one wins

[wolfpat]

The Tidewater area was 93. Apparently they weren't there when the base workers go home. And they obviously didn't go to Ocean View.

[Lexinom]

I liked St. Louis and surrounding area. Friendliest city I've lived in (compared to Seattle and San Jose). Lots of conservative, God-fearing evangelicals there, unlike here. Friendly drivers for the most part, compared to CA and WA.

[KarlInOhio]

Dayton, Ohio: just a little more stressful that Little Rock.

Commute time?? There was a 'study' a few days ago that said people enjoyed the commute as the most peaceful part of their day!

Maybe average commute speed instead of commute time. An hour commute to travel 50 miles would be a lot less stressful than an hour to travel 5 miles.

[Stellar Dendrite]

WTF??? Kansas City is more stressful to live in than LA, SF or Chicago?? Give me a frigging break!!

This ranking system is WORTHLESS......

[lawgirl]

I am sure that if you compare STL with WA/CA it is going to come out smelling like roses. But I found them to be some of the rudest people I have ever met. STL is like one giant small town and I thought people were very unfriendly- very difficult to make friends and I am a fun person! And I got sick of them asking when I went on job interviews "what high school did you go to"? Sorry, I didn't grow up around here so I didnt' go to your prep school. So much for that job!

[GeronL]

Its a pretty bad way to rank stress nonetheless. They should have done a poll, asking "are you stressed?" and got better results. =o)

[AF68]

Yep. Irene Smith, the big ol' fat wastebasket whizzer.

[AnnaZ]

I find it impossible to believe that Los Angeles wasn't number 1.

 

Not even in the top 20?!

 

<grumble>This "study" is crap.</grumble>

[Old Sarge]

Baghdad...

Fallujah...

Ramadi...

By any of those criteria, I'd THINK they'd qualify...

[Lokibob]

I find the critera that you couldn't be bothered to find, I quote it, and you still don't read it.

2nd paragraph: weightings Cloudy days and alchohol consumption were the lowest of the critera studied.

I would really like to see what YOU would use to select the top 100 cities.

Don't forget, you have to have hard data to back up the selections. No "feelings", hard, statistical data.

[ThreePuttinDude]

We're 68
We're 68
We're 68

100 Largest Metro Areas
(Ranked in order from most stressful to least stressful)

Rank	Metro Area	
1	Tacoma, WA
2	Miami, FL
3	New Orleans, LA
4	Las Vegas, NV-AZ
5	New York, NY
6	Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA
7	Mobile, AL
8	Stockton-Lodi, CA
9	Detroit, MI
10	Dallas, TX
11	Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
12	West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL
13	Houston, TX
14	Fort Lauderdale, FL
15	Riverside-San Bernardino, CA
16	St. Louis, MO-IL
17	Denver, CO
18	Jacksonville, FL
19	Jersey City, NJ
20	Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
21	Orlando, FL
22	Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC
23	Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
24	Oakland, CA
25	Kansas City, MO-KS
26	Chicago, IL
27	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
28	San Antonio, TX
29	Albuquerque, NM
30	Tucson, AZ
31	Gary, IN
32	Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
33	Baton Rouge, LA
34	Bakersfield, CA
35	Baltimore, MD
36	Sacramento, CA
37	Tulsa, OK
38	Memphis, TN-AR-MS
39	Nashville, TN
40	Birmingham, AL
41	Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC
42	San Francisco, CA
43	Atlanta, GA
44	Colorado Springs, CO
45	Fresno, CA
46	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI
47	Toledo, OH
48	Indianapolis, IN
49	Philadelphia, PA-NJ
50	Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, OH
51	Youngstown-Warren, OH
52	Wilmington-Newark, DE-MD
53	Dayton-Springfield, OH
54	Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR
55	Newark, NJ
56	San Jose, CA
57	Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, NC
58	Wichita, KS
59	El Paso, TX
60	Austin-San Marcos, TX
61	Oklahoma City, OK
62	Louisville, KY-IN
63	Springfield, MA
64	Salt Lake City-Ogden, UT
65	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
66	Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, MI
67	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
68	Sarasota-Bradenton, FL
69	Richmond-Petersburg, VA
70	Bergen-Passaic, NJ
71	Charleston-North Charleston, SC
72	Monmouth-Ocean, NJ
73	Akron, OH
74	Pittsburgh, PA
75	San Diego, CA
76	Knoxville, TN
77	Boston, MA-NH-ME
78	Hartford, CT
79	Columbia, SC
80	Ventura, CA
81	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA
82	Columbus, OH
83	Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV
84	Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, NJ
85	Providence-Fall River-Warwick, RI-MA
86	Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY
87	Syracuse, NY
88	New Haven-Meriden, CT
89	Rochester, NY
90	Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton, PA
91	Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
92	Honolulu, HI
93	Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA-NC
94	Omaha, NE-IA
95	Ann Arbor, MI
96	Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI
97	Nassau-Suffolk, NY
98	Orange County, CA
99	Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, PA
100	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY

[AF68]

The wastebasket whizzer will be the next mayor of St. Louis and her opponent will blow his brains out. Take it to the bank.

[Allegra]

Wonder why Baghdad's not on the list?

Hey, there are FReepers who live here!

And it can be kind of stressful sometimes...

[GeronL]

I would do a national poll and ask those who ansewred the phone if they are stressed.

I would have actual people telling me they are stressed. Not one person in this country told this 'study' they were stressed. They merely looked at stats.