These Are the Most and Least Stressed Cities in the United States

Not to stress you out, but where you live might have a big effect on your stress levels.

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Stress — and all of the negative health effects that come with it — is an unavoidable part of life. (If you know someone whose life is 100 percent stress-free, we would love to meet them.) It's caused by all kinds of things, like work, money, romance, or that guy who stands way too close to you in the elevator. And one report suggests there's more to it than just what is stressing you out, but also where you are that contributes to your stress.

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Credit report website WalletHub analyzed data from the 150 largest cities in the United States across 27 metrics in five key sources of stress — work, money, family, health, and safety — to determine the country's most and least stressed-out cities.

The results? Fremont, California, is the least stressed city in the United States.

Fremont had the lowest divorce rate at 12.24 percent, and the second lowest poverty rate of the cities surveyed. California was home to more laid-back cities than any other state (which only adds more fuel to the West Coast, Best Coast fire): San Francisco and San Diego both made the top 10 least-stressed list, along with Fremont, Irvine, and San Jose. You win this one, Cali.

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Here are the top 10 least stressed cities:

  1. Fremont, California
  2. Irvine, California,
  3. Honolulu, Hawaii
  4. Madison, Wisconsin
  5. San Jose, California
  6. San Francisco, California
  7. Plano, Texas,
  8. Overland Park, Kansas
  9. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
  10. St. Paul, Minnesota

Now on to the bad news.

Detroit is the most stressed U.S. city. It has the highest unemployment rate at 12.4 percent as well as the highest poverty rate at 39.8 percent. Detroit also has the highest number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents at 19.89. That statistic is more than 40 times higher than in Irvine, the city with the lowest number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents at 0.49.

The study looked at multiple health-related factors, including the percentage of adults in fair/poor health. Mobile has the highest percentage of adults in fair or poor health (25.71 percent), while St. Paul and Minneapolis tied for the lowest percentage in the category.

Access to healthcare, including the most psychologists per capita, was another part of the study. Fresno had the most psychologist per capita; Baton Rogue had the least. Hours of sleep per night, a crucial factor in health and wellness, was another metric, with the highest average hours of sleep per night found in Santa Rosa, California. The lowest average hours of sleep per night had a three-way tie for first place, all in Nevada: Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas. Maybe it's those fluorescent Vegas lights.

Here are the top 10 most stressed cities:

  1. Detroit, Michigan
  2. Mobile, Alabama
  3. Birmingham, Alabama
  4. Memphis, Tennessee
  5. Cleveland, Ohio
  6. Shreveport, Louisiana
  7. Columbus, Georgia
  8. New Orleans, Louisiana
  9. Newark, New Jersey
  10. Montgomery, Alabama

Go to WalletHub for a breakdown of the entire study, metric by metric.

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