Michigan City Claims Title of Most Stressed in the Nation

In celebration of National Relaxation Day on August 15, LawnStarter has unveiled its rankings of the Most Relaxed Cities in the United States. They evaluated the stress levels and stress-relief factors in the 200 largest cities. This included factors like depression rates, workday length, and access to relaxing amenities like spas and massage therapists.

Taking the lead as the Most Stressed City in the nation among these 200 metropolitan areas is Detroit. It's ranked at the very bottom of their list. According to the website, it's due to the city’s struggles with population and economic decline over the past 60 years. It scored poorly in areas like financial well-being, environmental stressors, and physical well-being. However, it has fewer work stressors and more recreation options compared to other cities.

On a national scale, the data exposed a higher demand for mental health services in cities like West Valley City, Utah; Laredo, Texas; North Las Vegas, Nevada; and Moreno Valley, California. Residents in these areas are grappling with elevated levels of mental distress, depression, and, except for Laredo, suicide.

The study also highlights that among the 200 largest cities, Detroit has the highest rates of insufficient sleep and stroke occurrences. Among the other top ten Most Stressed Cities are Shreveport, Louisiana; Cleveland, Ohio; Jackson, Mississippi; New Orleans, Louisiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Killeen, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; Augusta, Georgia; and Birmingham, Alabama.

Meanwhile, the list of the top 10 Most Relaxed Cities in the nation features five from sunny California: Sunnyvale (ranked 1st), San Francisco (ranked 2nd), Fremont (ranked 5th), San Jose (ranked 6th), and Irvine (ranked 10th). Other cities on this list include Alexandria, Virginia (ranked 3rd); Naperville, Illinois (ranked 4th); Seattle, Washington (ranked 7th); Overland Park, Kansas (ranked 8th); and Bellevue, Washington (ranked 9th). Being near water, in cannabis-friendly states, and having sunny weather seem to contribute to relaxation.

Interestingly, cities like Sunnyvale and San Jose maintain relaxation despite limited mental health resources, reporting fewer "off" days, less mental stress, and reduced depression.

You can dive deeper into this study here.

It's completely normal to feel angry at some point in life. Some people are better at dealing with anger than others. Some people are just angrier than others. And it turns out,  some states are angrier than others.

Michigan ranked number 10 on Best Life's angriest states in America survey. They created an Anger Index that consisted of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's most recent Fatality Analysis Reporting System and info by Auto Insurance Center, to determine the amount of each state's fatal accidents involving road rage.

Best Life also used the FBI's hate crime data to analyze hate crimes per capita, which they say is often motivated by anger. Their results showed that, on average, America isn't all that angry. But Michigan made the top 10 along with states from the West, Midwest, Northeast, and South.

Here are the 10 top angriest states in America.

Michigan ranked number 10 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 33.08. Though Michigan’s fatalities caused by road rage is only 0.1 percent, its hate crimes per capita is at 7.7 percent.

Massachusetts ranked number 9 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 37.39. Toxic internet comments were a part of the study and this state scored high with 6.8 percent. Massachusetts hate crimes per capita is at 5.63. Lower than Michigan's in the number 10 spot.

New Jersey ranked number 8 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 42.83 percent. New Jersey also made it onto Alcohol.org's angriest states list.

Connecticut ranked number 7 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 43.08 percent. The state has 5.7 percent of fatalities caused by road rage with a low road rage fatalities per capita at 0.4 percent.

Washington ranked number 6 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 46.90 percent. They also served up a high toxic internet comments percentage of 6.8 according to the Best Life study.

Vermont ranked number 5 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 55.34 percent. Though the fatalities caused by road rage are at zero percent. The state is at 5.29 percent hate crimes per capita.

Indiana ranked number 4 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 64.20. The state also came in with high percentages with fatalities caused by road rage at 10 percent and hate crimes per capita at 1.11 percent.

South Carolina ranked number 3 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 70.42 percent. The state's high toxic internet comments percentage was at 9.8 percent according to the Best Life study.

Colorado ranked number 2 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 70.42. Their road rage per capita is low at 0.9 percent. However, the study shows that fatalities caused by road rage in Colorado are at 9.5%. 

Alabama ranked number 1 on Best Life's Angriest States in America list with an anger index score of 100. The only 100 anger index score on the list. At the time of the study Alabama had limited data on hate crimes per capita.