Study: It's more stressful to live in Tacoma than Seattle
SEATTLE -- The Emerald City is a bustling place, but apparently living in Seattle is less stressful than those who live in its neighbor to the south: Tacoma, so says a new study.
WalletHub went out to determine the most and least stressful cities in America and the Puget Sound region gets mixed results.
Out of 180 cities across the U.S., Seattle ranked a respectable 133rd on the most stressed list, meaning they were in the bottom third. But Tacoma? Way up the chart at No. 55.
The study considered 37 factors including average weekly work hours, commute time, income growth, financial stresses, divorce rates, child care costs, smoking rates, crime rates and general overall health of its residents. They then classified the 37 into four major categories: Work Stress, Financial Stress, Family Stress and Health Stress. In the 25 factors they didn't essentially tie, Seattle outscored Tacoma in 19 of the others.
Seattle ranked well in Financial Stressors (172nd out of 180 -- remember, higher numbers equals less stressed) and health stress (135th). It fared a bit worse in Family stressors (77th) and did the worst in work stresses at 60th.
Meanwhile, Tacoma ranked a whopping 18th in work stress, 53rd in health stress, 62nd in family stress and did its best at 128th for Financial stresses.
Peeking at some notable individual category comparisons, Seattle and Tacoma both ranked dead last in Traffic Congestion and, sparingly, Seattle ranked worst out of 180 cities in hate crime incidents per capita. Tacoma was 31st worst.
Seattle was considered healthier than Tacoma in share of obese residents (161 Seattle vs. 66 for Tacoma), share of smokers (Seattle: 168; Tacoma: 79) and mental health (163 Seattle vs. 76 for Tacoma). Tacoma did outrank Seattle on share of adult binge drinkers (12 for Seattle vs. 82 for Tacoma.)
Tacoma has better job security (169 vs. 119) and a better housing affordability (75 vs. 25.)
But it's not just Tacoma that fared worse than Seattle. In fact, Seattle had the best ranking in Washington and Oregon when it comes to stress. Portland came in at 111th and Spokane was calculated at 87th. Boise would considered the least stressful in the Pacific Northwest at 166th.
You can see the full report here.
