What are the Least-Stressed Cities in the U.S. for Latinos?

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Stress often factors in as a huge burden on the health of many Americans, including much of the Latino population. A survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that health concerns – either an existing illness or disease or the financial costs associated with needing medical care – are serious causes of stress for many people.

Yes, stress is everywhere. However, some people in some cities experience less stress in the U.S.

The financial website SmartAsset recently examined positive and negative factors in 500 cities (with populations of 67,500 or more) in the country to determine the stress level citizens face. Positive factors include the rate of physical activity in the cities and the average hours of sleep; negative factors include hours of work per week and unemployment rates.

According to the findings, the least-stressed city in the country is Boulder, Colo. (8.61% Latino population), averaging 34.7-hour work weeks and 7.12 hours of sleep per night. Boulder residents also average a short 15-minute commute to work and a bankruptcy rate of 0.14%.

Iowa City, Iowa (5.27%), Duluth, MN (1.87%), Madison, WI (7%), Eau Claire, WI (2.24%), Flagstaff, Ariz. (19.44%), Columbia, MO (3.73%), Ann Arbor, Mich. (4.44%), Missoula, MT (3.49%), and Fargo, ND (2.92%) round out the top 10 of least-stressed cities.

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Flagstaff, the city with the highest Latino population, had the fourth-shortest commute of all the 500 cities surveyed and a strong economy based on tourism, education, and tech and manufacturing jobs. Wisconsin (6.35% Latino) was the only state with two cities in the top 10. Both Madison and Eau Claire residents experience high levels of physical activity and longer hours of sleep.

Northern, Midwestern states in general faired exceedingly well in the survey. Along with Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, and North Dakota all had cities in the top 10 and multiple cities in the top 25. Southern states, aside from Missouri, did not fare well at all.

In fact, heavily Latino populated areas comprised the bulk of the bottom 10, making them the most-stressed cities in the country.

In the bottom 10, the states of Florida (23%) and New Jersey (18%) proved to be the most stressed. Miami (70.68%), Miami Gardens (24.29%), Pompano Beach (18.04%), and Hialeah (95.64%) in Florida – which all have highly concentrated Latino populations – and Union City (84.66%) and Newark (35.63%) in New Jersey comprised the bulk of the bottom 10.

Where does your city rank on this list?

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