Do You Live In One Of The Most Stressed States In America?

This analysis consisted of over 200,000 days and nights along with 16 billion data points. It also revealed that on average women are 5% more stressed than men, but despite feeling the strain more, on average, women still fall asleep around 10% faster than men and get an additional 21 minutes more sleep per night. 

Stress really isn’t new, but the past few years have really been amping it up to the point where even charming Southern hospitality has taken a big hit. According to another study, the south is a tough place to be right now, findings suggest that Louisiana ranks number one as the most stressed state in the nation, this is followed by Nevada in 2nd, New Mexico in 3rd, West Virginia in 4th, and Mississippi in 5th. 

The four main specific stressors that Americans across the nation are struggling with are work-related stress, money-related stress, family-related stress, and stress over health and safety, all of which have been impacted exponentially over the past few recent years. 

After another analysis, Alaska has the most work-related stress. This category looks at factors including hours worked, job security, local unemployment rates, and average commuting times. As it turns out Alaskans are working the highest amount of hours per week. But this raking is also shared with workers in Texas, Wyoming, and North Dakota. 

You may think that working more means that they are also getting less sleep, but according to this study that is not the case. Residents in Hawaii are suggested to be getting the least amount of sleep each night despite being ranked as the 6th least stressed state in the nation overall. What is stressing out Hawaiians is the fact that they have the most expensive housing in the country, homes in Hawaii are even more expensive than homes in California and New York which are ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively. 

Utah tops the list as the least stressed state, where its residents have the least amount of work-related stress and the second-lowest amount of family-related stress. Utah is followed by Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire as the least stressed states in the nation. 

Crime, lack of help, and lack of funding are on the top of the list when it comes to bringing the most stress to Americans. This may be why Louisiana ranks at the bottom when it comes to the crime rate, to add to that it has the fewest number of working psychologists, it has the second-highest poverty rate, and residents in this state have the second-lowest credit scores in the nation. 

That’s not to say that only Louisiana residents are struggling financially, as another study suggests that 7 in 10 Americans are experiencing hard times and living paycheck to paycheck right now. This recent survey of 2,007 adults revealed that 63% don’t see being able to reach a level of financial security that allows them to live the stress-free lifestyle they want. 47% have run out of emergency savings, 82% don’t think that they can afford a surprise $500 expense if one should suddenly arise, and 44% report that they are not able to support their lifestyle the way it was before the pandemic. 

Even though things are beginning to look better, another study suggests that half of non-retired Americans say the economic impacts of the past few years will make it harder for them to achieve long term goals, and 44% think that it will take at least 3 or more years to get back to the point where they were before the pandemic, including 1 in 10 who don’t think that their finances will ever recover. 

“First, I want to acknowledge that the range of financial stress is huge right now and some people are really hurting. I would…encourage doing a lot of research about COVID19 financial relief opportunities. It is an active and ongoing situation, and there have been several federal, state, and local government financial assistance opportunities but it takes a lot of knowledge and awareness of what is out there – not an easy task when you are under duress,” says Arizona State University associate professor Alisia (Giac-Thao) Tran in a statement.

“So, I recommend finding a starting point, asking for help, and doing what you can to maintain your focus on the financial tasks that arise from the process so you do not get overwhelmed in the process – that would certainly be the opposite of what we are going for.”

Most Stressed States

Notes: *No. 1 = Most Stressed

With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the worst conditions for that metric category.