Most Stressful Cities

Don Klumpp | Getty Images With common factors such as traffic, crowds, noise, grime, and crime, cities are generally not perceived as oases of calm.But what makes one city more stressful to live in than the next? In order to gauge the stress of residents in American cities, data cruncher Sperling’s Best Places considered the 50 largest metropolitan areas (which includes suburbs). The team considered the following factors: divorce rate, commute times, unemployment, violent crime, property crime, suicides, alcohol consumption, mental health, sleep troubles, and the annual amount of cloudy days. There wasn’t a lot of variance in several categories. For alcohol consumption per month, each of the top 10 cities ranged from 8.7 to 14 drinks per month; for days per month with poor mental health, the metro areas ranged from 2.9 to 4.3; and for days per month of poor sleep, the range was 6.9 to 8.2. The data behind this list does not paint a cheery picture. The Sunshine State, in particular, seems much less sunny — dismal, even. What follows are the 10 metropolitan areas that fared the worst using the above criteria.  By Colleen KanePosted 18 January 2012

Gary John Norman | Getty Images Population: 1,300,866Divorced: 10.67%Commute time – minutes: 27.7Unemployment: 11.2%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 540.2Property crime per 100,000 population: 3,567.5Suicides per 100,000 population: 13.2Cloudy days annually: 137Standout factor: The West Palm Beach metropolitan area is in the 93rd percentile for divorces.

Stephen Brashear | Getty Images Population: 2,612,052Divorced: 11.3%Commute time – minutes: 30.3Unemployment: 9%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 316.7Property crime per 100,000 population: 3,881.7Suicides per 100,000 population: 11.7Cloudy days annually: 229Standout factor: The Seattle metro area is in the 100th percentile for cloudy days.

Kyle Monk | Getty Images Population:  2,163,293Divorced: 11.2%Commute time – minutes: 27.9%Unemployment: 12.5%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 478.1Property crime per 100,000 population: 3,106.6Suicides per 100,000 population: 11.5Cloudy days annually: 100Standout factor: The Sacramento metro area is in the 87th percentile for unemployment.

David McNew | Getty Images Population:  4,251,553Divorced: 9.6%Commute time – minutes: 33Unemployment: 14.7%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 368.5Property crime per 100,000 population: 2,694.6Suicides per 100,000 population: 9.5Cloudy days annually: 97Standout factor: This region is in the 100th percentile for poor mental health days, though it’s only in the fourth percentile for cloudy days.

EPA Smart Growth | Creative Commons Population: 2,140,540Divorced: 10.7%Commute time – minutes: 29.6Unemployment: 10.4%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 613.7Property crime per 100,000 population: 3,594.5Suicides per 100,000 population: 11.3Cloudy days annually: 123Standout factor: The Orlando-Kissimmee area ranks in the 87th percentile for property crimes.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images Population: 1,918,288Divorced: 11.4%Commute time – minutes: 27Unemployment: 15.7%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 1111.2Property crime per 100,000 population: 4,152.4Suicides per 100,000 population: 9.6Cloudy days annually: 180Standout factors: The Detroit metropolitan area is in the 100th percentile for violent crime and property crime. It also ranks in the 97th percentile for poor mental health days per month, though it is in the second percentile for alcohol consumption per month.

Don Klumpp | Getty Images Population: 1,374,303Divorced: 12.3%Commute time – minutes: 28.0Unemployment: 10.4%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 557Property crime per 100,000 population: 3,772.4Suicides per 100,000 population: 13.9Cloudy days annually: 139Standout factor: Jacksonville is in the 95th percentile for divorces.

Hector Herrera | Getty Images Population: 2,472,015Divorced: 11.5%Commute time – minutes: 33.2Unemployment: 12.5%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 733.3Property crime per 100,000 population: 4,678.3Suicides per 100,000 population: 9.3Cloudy days annually: 117Standout factors: Metropolitan Miami is in the 97th percentile for property crime, and 95th percentile for violent crime, but is in the fourth percentile for alcohol consumption.

Ethan Miller | Getty Images Population: 1,908,008Divorced: 13.2%Commute time – minutes: 27Unemployment: 14%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 763.4Property crime per 100,000 population: 2,921.9Suicides per 100,000 population: 18Cloudy days annually: 65Standout factors: Las Vegas-Paradise is in the 100th percentile for divorces, but it had the least cloudy days of any city on 50 cities analyzed.

George Rose | Getty Images Population: 2,780,818Divorced: 12.3%Commute time – minutes: 28.3Unemployment: 11.2%Violent crime per 100,000 population: 500Property crime per 100,000 population: 3,387.2Suicides per 100,000 population: 15.5Cloudy days annually: 127Standout factor: Tampa is in the 97th percentile for suicides.

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