Feeling stressed? Not in Pembroke Pines, new study says. Do you agree?
Let’s pause for a quick check-in, Pembroke Pines: What are your stress levels looking like these days?
A new study shows that while the southwest Broward city is far from zen, it’s Florida’s chillest municipality by far.
A new WalletHub analysis found it to be the least-stressed city in Florida and among the less-stressed cities nationwide in its report on the most- and least-stressed U.S. cities.
The study, released July 6 by the Miami-based personal finance company, compared 182 cities nationwide in four categories of stress that WalletHub says make or break your mental health:
- Work stress
- Financial stress
- Family stress
- Health and safety stress
Where did Pembroke Pines wind up? The city ranked 117th across the U.S. and was dubbed the least-stressed of the 11 Florida cities that made the report.
To assess city stress, the categories were broken down into 39 stress-inducing metrics with varying weights, graded on a 100-point scale and averaged to calculate the score.
Pines fared best in health and safety stress, ranking No. 161 in the 25-point category that factored in the number of adults who are regular smokers and drinkers, unable to see a doctor due to cost and diagnosed with depression, as well as the city’s suicide, physical activity and crime rates.
Family stress — Pines’ second-best category, coming in at No. 111 — looked at the city’s separation and divorce rates, child care costs and availability, number of single-parent households and the median duration of marriages.
Financial stress in the southwest Broward city followed close behind at No. 98, sizing up Pines’ median annual household income, foreclosure and personal bankruptcy rates, credit scores, debt to earnings ratios, food insecurity and more.
That’s unsurprising considering Pines ranked No. 174 in WalletHub’s April roundup of cities with the most-affordable rent and No. 6 on the Journal of Consumer Research’s November list of most “house-poor” cities in America.
But stress levels took a sharp upward turn when it came to work, the category Pembroke Pines scored worst in at No. 27.
That includes average weekly work hours, job security, income growth, job satisfaction rates and commute traffic congestion, according to researchers.
Pembroke Pines’ total score was 41.24.
If you’re a Pines resident, know you’ve struck the mental health jackpot in Florida.
The southwest Broward city fared significantly better than its Sunshine State counterparts, listed from best to worst: Orlando (97), St. Petersburg (91), Tallahassee (84), Fort Lauderdale (83), Cape Coral (77), Tampa (73), Port St. Lucie (67), Hialeah (54), Miami (50) and Jacksonville (37).
Looking to protect your peace? Avoid Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, Memphis, Tennessee, and Shreveport, Louisiana, which WalletHub dubbed the most overwhelmed cities.
And if you want to free up your headspace even more, consider an out-of-state move to one of these stress-free zones:
- Lincoln, Nebraska
- Fargo, North Dakota
- Bismarck, North Dakota
- South Burlington, Vermont
- Fremont, California
