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Wednesday, 15 September, 2010 0:54 AM
AAAAAAHHHHHH!
Summer is Over, Let the Stress Begin! Portfolio.com Unveils America's
Most Stressful Cities
Examines
Stress Levels in the 50 Largest U.S. Metros; Smaller Cities with
Low Crime Rates are Least Stressed Cities
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PHOTO
BY JENNIFER VUOUNG / ©AMERICAJR.com
A
look down Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit.
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PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
A
look at some of the skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles.
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NEW
YORK -- Portfolio.com - the national business news site for
small and mid-sized business (SMB) executives - today revealed its
latest U.S. Uncovered study, ranking the "Most Stressful Place
in America." Looking at the nation's 50 largest metropolitan
areas, Detroit ranked at the top of the list while Salt Lake City
came out as the least stressful area.
A variety of factors
were used to determine the rankings including local unemployment
rates, personal financial data, environmental factors, health risks,
crime rates and living standards. These data points were collected
from government agencies and private firms as part of Portfolio.com's
analysis.
"It's no secret
that living in a big city can add some serious stress to your life.
But that doesn't you have to be truly stressed out just by being
in one of the nation's population hubs. This study shows that a
healthy and relatively low stress life can be achieved in at least
a few urban areas," said J. Jennings Moss, editor of Portfolio.com.
Detroit is the most stressful
metropolitan area in America, largely due to its steep unemployment
rate (14.3%), high percentage of families living in poverty (9.9%),
high numbers of both murders and robberies, and a lack of sunshine.
Coming in at #2 is Los Angeles, which has the most expensive housing
rates, significant levels of air pollution, and a high unemployment
rate. Cleveland ranked at #3, with the most robberies per 100,000
residents, as well as an increased number of deaths caused by heart
failure, hypertension and stroke. Rounding out the top ten were
Riverside, Calif. (#4), St. Louis (#5), New York City (#6), New
Orleans (#7), Chicago (#8), Birmingham (#9) and Miami-Fort Lauderdale
(#10).
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Most
Stressed Cities
- Detroit Mich.
- Los Angeles,
Calif.
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Riverside, Calif.
- St. Louis, Mo.
- New York, N.Y.
- New Orleans,
La.
- Chicago, Ill.
- Birmingham,
Ala.
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale,
Fla.
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Least
Stressed Cities
- Salt Lake City,
Utah
- Virginia Beach-Norfolk,
Va.
- Minneapolis-St.
Paul, Minn.
- Raleigh, N.C.
- Austin, Texas
- Oklahoma City,
Okla.
- Denver, Colo.
- San Antonio,
Texas
- Kansas City,
Mo.
- Phoenix, Ariz.
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"Stress is clearly a factor in many adults' lives, but it's
interesting to see how the root cause of stress can differ from
city to city," said G. Scott Thomas, a nationally-recognized
demographer who creates the analyses for Portfolio.com. "While
the top ten most stressed cities consistently ranked higher in most
categories than their less-stressed counterparts, you can see that
it was rarely a clean sweep across all other factors. For example,
Riverside, which ranked #4, has the lowest level of crime, including
murders among the group."
Salt Lake City ranking
as the city with the least stressed residents was thanks to low
levels of crime, easy commutes, high employment and good health
standing. Oklahoma City, which boasts the lowest commute time, ranked
as #45, while Phoenix, the city with the most amount of sunshine,
ranked as #41. Other cities with a low amount of stress include
Kansas City (#42), San Antonio (#43), Denver (#44), Austin (#46),
Raleigh (#47), Minneapolis-St. Paul (#48) and Virginia Beach-Norfolk
(#49).
The factors that distinguished
the most stressed cities from the least stressed were population
(an average of 6.3 million to 2.1 million), robberies per 100,000
residents (479 vs. 237) and deaths per 100,000 residents from circulatory-system
disease (323 vs. 204).
The U.S. Uncovered series
- new this year to Portfolio.com - provides original, insightful
analysis of the American lifestyle and business trends of interest
to the highly lucrative market of small- and mid-sized business
executives, who will fuel the country's economic recovery over the
next five years. Most recently, the U.S. Uncovered revealed the
"Best Mid-size Places to Live" ranking Boulder, CO as
the small city with the highest quality of life. U.S. Uncovered
also disclosed the rankings of "Best Big Places to Live,"
ranking Raleigh; "Best Cities to have fun," ranking New
York City as #1; "Top U.S. Wealth Centers," naming Newport
Beach as #1; "Small Business Vitality," naming Texas the
best state and Austin the top city for small business; and "Best
Places for Young Adults," naming the Southwestern region the
new frontier for young Americans with Austin as #1.
Source: Portfolio.com
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