If you want to live a stress free life the last place you should think of moving to is Tacoma, Washington, as it has just been given the somewhat unpleasant title of America’s Most Stressful City. Tacoma’s combination of gloomy weather, high unemployment, suicides, and frequent thefts ranked it top of the 100 large metro areas surveyed by researchers at BestPlaces. “On a brighter note, Tacomans can feel safe from bodily harm thanks to the low violent crime rate,” wrote Bert Sperling, who runs the Oregon-based company. High levels of violent crime as well as high property crime, long commutes, high unemployment, and a high divorce rate, placed Miami at number two in the stressful cities league. The third most stressful city was New Orleans, which was followed by Las Vegas, which held claim to the highest suicide and divorce rates in the study, and New York, which is home to the longest commute time. The remaining top ten stressful cities were Portland, Mobile in Alabama, Stockton-Lodi in California, Detroit, and Dallas. On the other end of the scale, the honor of the least stressful place to live, which boasts low unemployment rates, short commutes, lower divorce rates, less crime, and low suicide rates, was given to the multiple-city enclaves of Albany-Schenectady-Troy in New York and Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle in Pennsylvania which came joint first.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com on the 12th January 2004.
