How Stressful is YOUR city? (real estate, rentals, health insurance)

[Steveareeno5]

I was looking into the issue of stress in various cities across the Country. Stress in my research is often correlated with negative posts about the city from people who have moved there and regret it.

I came across what I believe are some good tabulations based on good data at bestplaces

Just search bestplace, cities and stress and you will find the links and the methodology which appears quite sound. Separate list for large, medium and small cities.

My purpose in posting this is to ask YOUR opinon of cities you have lived in if the study coincides with your experience of stress in that city?

Here are a few examples of some cities I was looking at. The lower the score, the higher the stress level. Ranking/number of cities.

STRESS CITIES BESTPLACES

SPRINGFIELD,MO 68/134=.51

TOPEKA,KS 31/117=.26

FORT SMITH, AR 48/114=.42

KANSAS CITY, MO 25/100=.25

INDIANAPOLIS, IN 48/100=.48

TUCSON 30/100=.30

LAS VEGAS 4/100=.04

MPLS 96/100=.96

[Kluch]

Currently live south of Indianapolis and I don't find it particularly stressful. I would say living in Chicago was much more stressful than living in Indy due to the constantly rising COL.

[Steveareeno5]

Originally Posted by Kluch

Currently live south of Indianapolis and I don't find it particularly stressful. I would say living in Chicago was much more stressful than living in Indy due to the constantly rising COL.

Thanks for your reply.

I was surprised that Indy was rated more stressful than KC. And the user reviews for Indy were like one star as opposed to 3 stars for KC.

I did not post the links to the bestplaces lists of stressful cities because it comes up immediately on a google search. One list for big, medium and small cities with about 100 cities on each list. The boring places are the least stressful. Las Vegas is very high on the stress index.

[WestOfEdge]

I live in Manhattan, where stress is an ingrained way of life.

The cost of living is insane, the job market (while huge and diverse) is very competitive, and your career/success is a big identity marker. Combine that with the never-ending noise and crowds, and it's nothing short of a miracle the whole island doesn't lose their minds.

Would I want to live anywhere else? Nope. It's pushed me to thrive, especially professionally, in a way I probably would not have if I lived in a more relaxed city.

[Hemlock140]

Seattle, where I work is 163rd most stressful. That seems low to me, however. With only 65,000 in our city (Sammamish) it's not on the list at all. I did find that most measures of stress include:

Percentage of population with a long commute (over 30 minutes)
Unemployment Rate
Hours worked
Population density
Percentage of income spent on rent
Percentage of population without health insurance

In our city, those numbers (below) would indicate a very low stress level.

Percentage of population with a long commute (over 30 minutes) Average commute 34.1 minutes, so low
Unemployment Rate Negligible
Hours worked (unknown)
Population density 3,514 people per square mile (very low)
Percentage of income spent on rent Very few rentals, with 86% homeowners
Percentage of population without health insurance Negligible

[Steveareeno5]

Originally Posted by WestOfEdge

I live in Manhattan, where stress is an ingrained way of life.

The cost of living is insane, the job market (while huge and diverse) is very competitive, and your career/success is a big identity marker. Combine that with the never-ending noise and crowds, and it's nothing short of a miracle the whole island doesn't lose their minds.

Would I want to live anywhere else? Nope. It's pushed me to thrive, especially professionally, in a way I probably would not have if I lived in a more relaxed city.

Stress can take years off your life. The only time I would even consider living in NYC is if I was rich.
It's an exciting place and I like NYorkers. But no way I'd live there. I know of at least a few people I've met who moved precisely because the stress level was so high. One guy told me NYorkers would heckle him while he ws playing golf.

[Steveareeno5]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Seattle, where I work is 163rd most stressful. That seems low to me, however. With only 65,000 in our city (Sammamish) it's not on the list at all. I did find that most measures of stress include:

Percentage of population with a long commute (over 30 minutes)
Unemployment Rate
Hours worked
Population density
Percentage of income spent on rent
Percentage of population without health insurance

In our city, those numbers (below) would indicate a very low stress level.

Percentage of population with a long commute (over 30 minutes) Average commute 34.1 minutes, so low
Unemployment Rate Negligible
Hours worked (unknown)
Population density 3,514 people per square mile (very low)
Percentage of income spent on rent Very few rentals, with 86% homeowners
Percentage of population without health insurance Negligible

I liked that Seattlites tended to mind their own business and not be confrontational. Also Seattle has a very developed generous social help network. Population density is a big factor in stress I think.

[Outer_Bluegrass]

Cost of living (especially real estate prices), average commute time and unemployment rate are typically used as benchmarks of stress in a city or metropolitan area, but often, those stress factors are irrelevant/non-applicable to a many individuals because of their unique circumstances.

For example, if someone living in Los Angeles, CA has no mortgage payment and low property taxes due to CA Prop. 13, then the exorbitantly high real estate prices in Los Angeles are probably not major stressors for that individual.

Another example - traffic in Austin, TX is exceptionally bad, but if a local resident works remotely from home and rarely, if ever, ventures to an office/worksite, then he/she can avoid/circumvent the heaviest traffic.

Also, every person measures and handles environmental stress differently. For example, despite relatively low traffic by national standards, I find driving in and around Providence, RI to be rather stressful due to archaic roadway infrastructure (i.e., narrow roads with horribly bad pavement), temperamental driving habits (e.g., speeding, tailgating, unnecessary breaking on highways, limited turn signal usage, etc.) and hideout cops everywhere you look.

[Steveareeno5]

Originally Posted by Outer_Bluegrass

Cost of living (especially real estate prices), average commute time and unemployment rate are typically used as benchmarks of stress in a city or metropolitan area, but often, those stress factors are irrelevant/non-applicable to a many individuals because of their unique circumstances.

For example, if someone living in Los Angeles, CA has no mortgage payment and low property taxes due to CA Prop. 13, then the exorbitantly high real estate prices in Los Angeles are probably not major stressors for that individual.

Another example - traffic in Austin, TX is exceptionally bad, but if a local resident works remotely from home and rarely, if ever, ventures to an office/worksite, then he/she can avoid/circumvent the heaviest traffic.

Also, every person measures and handles environmental stress differently. For example, despite relatively low traffic by national standards, I find driving in and around Providence, RI to be rather stressful due to archaic roadway infrastructure (i.e., narrow roads with horribly bad pavement), temperamental driving habits (e.g., speeding, tailgating, unnecessary breaking on highways, limited turn signal usage, etc.) and hideout cops everywhere you look.

Statistics are just that, and often don't apply to individuals. From memory the variables used in the bestplaces cited study seemed pretty logical. Suicide rate is one factor that I think may apply generally across people. Alcoholism and divorce rate are two others

[BenjaminMarshalll]

Stressful now Ukrainian!