Crime. Divorce. Suicide. Unemployment. A (very) long commute. These are the primary factors that create stress in cities.
Leading the list of stressed cities is Tampa, Florida, while the city that is most relaxed is Minneapolis, Minnesota, according to Sperling's BestPlaces, a research firm specializing in livability rankings.
The top 10 most stressful U.S. cities:
1. Tampa, Florida
2. Las Vegas, Nevada
3. Miami, Florida
4. Jacksonville, Florida
5. Detroit, Michigan
6. Orlando, Florida
7. Riverside, California
8. Sacramento, California
9. Seattle, Washington
10. West Palm Beach, Florida
Notice something odd about this list? Five of the top 10 most stressful cities are in Florida.
"Frankly, I was shocked by the concentration of Florida cities clustered in the top 10," said lead researcher Bert Sperling. "But when we look into the statistics, we can see some of the reasons."
Contributing factors are high levels of divorce and suicide, as well as high unemployment, a lingering consequence of Florida's real estate boom and bust. The residents of most of the Florida cities in this study were more likely to report feelings of stress, depression and emotional problems. In addition, high crime rates in Florida contribute to the rankings.
But the real surprise is Seattle. "It isn't a city we normally think of as stressful, but the divorces, suicides and alcohol use are near the 80th percentile for our study; commuting is painful and crime is surprisingly high," says Sperling.
The top 10 least stressful U.S. cities:
1. Minneapolis, Minnesota
2. Nassau-Suffolk, New York
3. Cambridge, Massachusetts
4. Virginia Beach, Virginia
5. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
6. San Jose, California
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Dallas, Texas
9. Santa Ana, California
10. Cleveland, Ohio
Factors used to assess each city's level of stress included the unemployment rate, suicide rate, commuting time, mental health, poor rest, alcohol use, violent crime rate, property crime rate and the number of cloudy days annually.
--From the Editors at Netscape
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