Cleveland ranks as most stressed city in U.S., Pittsburgh at 97

Covid-19, civil protests, businesses shutting down, presidential election forthcoming. There’s no doubt these are stressful times.

Now, a new survey finds that the most stressful city in the country is just next door to Pittsburgh — in Cleveland.

Well, with a moniker like “Mistake on the Lake,” it’s no wonder they’re so stressed out.

WalletHub, an online finance site, looked at 182 major cities in the United States and combed through 42 metrics to determine the most stressed out places to live.

Pittsburgh came in just about halfway down — at No. 97, improving 21 places from 2019’s No. 76 ranking. Not too shabby.

However, Cleveland landed the top spot, up one notch from 2019. WalletHub found the Ohio city had the highest divorce rate and the second highest poverty rate.

Other area cities didn’t fare much better than Cleveland, with Akron, Ohio, landing 12th, Philadelphia at 18 and Cincinnati at 19. Buffalo was a bit better, landing at 67th.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Detroit; Birmingham, Ala.; Gulfport, Miss.; Newark, N.J.; Baltimore; New Orleans; St. Louis; Mobile, Ala.; and Jackson, Miss.

The study included the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state across four key dimensions: Work Stress, Financial Stress, Family Stress and Health & Safety Stress. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 being the highest level of stress.

Cleveland came in with the most stress with regard to finances, which took into account factors like median household income, foreclosure, bankruptcy and poverty rates and food insecurity. The city was the third most stressed in the Health category, which looked at covid-19 factors like a population’s vulnerability to the disease, health improvements with regard to covid-19, doctor access, insured residents and smokers and drinkers.

It was the fourth worst in the Family field, which considered divorce rates, share of single-parent households, social tie strength and child care costs.

In comparison, Pittsburgh ranked 93rd in Finances, 67th in Health and 140th in Family stress.

Which was the least-stressed out city in the United States? Lincoln, Neb.

WalletHub’s Work field looked at things like hours worked per week, job security, traffic congestion and commute times, unemployment rates and job satisfaction. Cleveland landed 35th in that category, with Pittsburgh coming in at 82nd.

To arrive at their numbers, WalletHub used data from U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., County Health Rankings, Zillow, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Council for Community and Economic Research, Gallup-Healthways, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and USA Today.