Your commute is too long. Your mortgage or rent is too high. You're stressed.
Welcome to Georgia.
[ >> Related: Georgia is one of the unhappiest states in US, report says ]
A new analysis and ranking by Zippia, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2012-2016, puts Georgia as the No. 2 most stressed state in the country.
[ >> Related: Georgia among the most stressed states in 2017 ]
Being stressed out is nothing new to Georgians, though. Last year, WalletHub put the Peach State at No. 8 on its ranking. In 2014, Movoto ranked Georgia at No. 2 on its stress scale.
For its study, Zippia used six criteria:
- Long commute times
- Unemployment
- Hours worked
- Population density
- Home price to income ratio
- Percent uninsured population
Zippia then ranked each state from 1 (most stressed) to 50 in each category, and combined those rankings for one majorly stressed out score.
That put Georgia at No. 2, right behind New Jersey.
[ >> Related: Florida, Georgia most stressed out states in 2014 ]
According to Zippia’s analysis, “many Georgians must tackle a high unemployment rate, high uninsured rate, and a long commute.”
The state's unemployment outlook is improving, however. The unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in July, its lowest level since 2001.
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What about traffic? Anyone who drives to work — or a game, or a concert, or through Atlanta on their way somewhere else — will tell you traffic is terrible.
In 2017, the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard determined Atlanta has the eighth-worst traffic congestion in the world.
[ >> Related: Report confirms Atlanta has some of the world's worst traffic ]
If you’re thinking of moving somewhere less stressful, don’t stay in the South. Seven of the top 10 stressed out states are southern.
- New Jersey
- Georgia
- Florida
- California
- New York
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- North Carolina
- Virginia
- Mississippi
The country's least-stressed states are clustered in the north central part of the country: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota.