Stress in the US: 9 Key Measures and How Big Cities Rank

July 28, 2021

Cleveland ranks highest for financial and family stress; Newark ranks highest for work stress. Find out how well your metro area and your patients are coping right now.

Cleveland, OH is the US city that ranks highest on measures of financial, family, and health and safety stress, according to recent data analyzed by WalletHub. Newark, NJ leads the country in the area of work stress. At the opposite end of the stress continuum, Reno, NV ranks lowest on the composite for work stress, South Burlington, VT lowest for family stress, and Fremont, CA lowest for financial and health and safety stress.

The COVID-19 pandemic may potentially have had a negative impact on all 41 metrics researchers used to used to evaluate the 4 dimensions of a city's stress mentioned above. But even without the pandemic-triggered fear and anxiety, stress in US cities is ubiquitous.

The WalletHub team compared 182 cities using a data set that ranged from COVID-19 cases and average weekly work hours to unemployment, divorce, and suicide rates.

The highlights slide show that follows lists the 5 cities with the highest and lowest levels of stress in 9 categories.