A new study has ranked the Tampa Bay area as the "most stressful city" in the United States.
Four other Florida cities - Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando, and West Palm Beach - made the top ten list.
The study was performed by Sperling's Best Places, which specializes in livability rankings. The study looked at several factors when determining the rankings. Those factors are, in order of importance:
- Unemployment rate
- Suicide rate
- Commute time
- Mental health (days per month with poor mental health, from an annual CDC survey)
- Poor rest (days per month without adequate restful sleep, CDC survey)
- Alcohol use (drinks per month, CDC survey)
- Violent crime rate
- Property crime rate
- Cloudy days annually
“Frankly, I was shocked by the concentration of Florida cities clustered in the top ten,” lead researcher Bert Sperling said. “But when we look into the statistics, we can see some of the reasons.”
Researchers cited high levels of divorce and suicide, as well as high unemployment, which they called a lingering consequence of Florida's real estate boom and bust.
The researchers also said residents of the Florida cities in the study were more likely to report feelings of stress, depression and emotional problems.
The study also lists the nation's least stressful cities. Occupying the top spot is Minneapolis, with the Nassau-Suffolk area of New York and the Cambridge-Newton-Framingham area of Massachusetts right behind.