Times are trying for many people nowadays, but according to a new study from the financial wonks at WalletHub, you’re particularly feeling this if you happen to live in either Cleveland, Ohio or Detroit, Michigan.
That’s because those two cities came out at, respectively, #1 and #2 on the financial site’s new list of the Most Stressed Cities in America.
Using data ranging from rates of alcoholism and unemployment to the number of hours residents worked and slept, to even homicide rates, the two Rust Belt cities topped the chart of 182 cities — though Baltimore, Maryland was a close third.
Incidentally, that’s the same Top 3 from 2023’s study.
Memphis, Tennessee and Gulfport, Mississippi took fourth and fifth place.
While Cleveland’s metrics calculation put it just ahead of the Motor City, it was close, and both had a lot in common: Cleveland has one of the lowest median household incomes after adjusting for cost of living, at under $41,000 a year — Detroit’s is $37,000.
Cleveland has the second-highest foreclosure rate and poverty rate, the latter second only to Detroit’s, at 31.5%. Both cities lead the nation in rates of violent crime, and have high rates of unemployment.
For the record, WalletHub says the least stressed city in America is Fremont, California at #182, followed by South Burlington, Vermont (181), and Fargo, North Dakota (180).
One-way ticket, anyone?
Methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.