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Are you stressed? WalletHub says you're living in the third-most stressed city in the country

Posted at 9:16 PM, Jul 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-19 21:16:24-04

Cleveland, we're stressed.

Maybe it's because the Browns didn't win a single game last year or that the Cavs couldn't grab the championship this year or that LeBron left us for the Lakers. 

According to WalletHub, it's our finances.

Cleveland is the second-most financially stressed city in the U.S. and we tie with Detroit for the highest poverty rate. Add in our top ranking for highest divorce rate and our spot in the top five for the lowest average hours of sleep per night, and, yeah, I guess we should be stressed.

WalletHub determined the financial stress category based on the following criteria:

  • Median household income
  • Share of households behind on bills in the past year
  • Foreclosure rate
  • Personal bankruptcy rate
  • Median debt per median earnings
  • Median credit score
  • Poverty rate
  • Food insecurity
  • Housing affordability
  • Share of mortgage holders with negative equity

While our work stress is not quite so high with a ranking of 30, we land in the top ten in the other areas of the WalletHub study used to determine a city's stress level. Cleveland's top spot for highest divorce rate contributes to our number six ranking in the family stress category. The following criteria were used to determine work and family stress:

Work Stress

  • Average weekly work hours
  • Job security
  • Traffic congestion
  • Unemployment rate
  • Underemployment rate
  • Average commute time
  • Income growth
  • Job satisfaction ranking

Family Stress

  • Separation and divorce rate
  • Share of single parent households
  • Median duration of current marriage
  • Strength of social ties
  • Availability of childcare workers per total number of children
  • Chare care cost

The final contributing factor to Cleveland's stress level is the city's health and safety stress category — we fall seventh. Our spot in the top five for the lowest average hours of sleep per night definitely doesn't help our case. The health and safety stress category is based on the following:

  • Share of adults in fair or poor health
  • Share of adults diagnosed with depression
  • Mental health
  • Suicide rate
  • Share of insured population
  • Share of adult binge drinkers
  • Share of adult smokers
  • Physical activity rate
  • Share of obese residents
  • Share of adults with inadequate sleep
  • Well-being index
  • Crime rate
  • Hate crime incidents per capita