It may come as a surprise to anyone trying to navigate rush hour along the Wasatch Front, but Utah is the second-least stressed state in the union, according to a new study.
WalletHub.com, a personal finance website, compared the states across 40 metrics — everything from average hours worked per week to personal bankruptcies to the percentage of adults who get enough sleep. Utahns ranked 49th overall — 49th in work-related stress; 47th in family-related stress; 37th in money-related stress; and 35th in health and safety-related stress.
If you're looking for someplace that might lower your blood pressure even more, Minnesota is the only state ranked behind (ahead?) of Utah in the WalletHub survey. Looking for more stress? Head southeast — Louisiana and Mississippi are ranked first and second.
Or, if long trips stress you out, next-door neighbor Nevada is ninth on the list. While Utah has the lowest rate of divorce and separation at 15.88 percent, Nevada has the highest, at 26.19 percent.
Here's how Utah ranked in several stress-level categories — first being the most stressed and 50th the least:
Divorce — 50th
Average hours worked per week — 50th
Percentage of adults in fair/poor health — 45th
Share of adults getting adequate sleep — 44th
Percentage of population living below the poverty line — 42nd
Psychologists per capita — 41st
Job security — 39th
Median credit score — 36th
Housing affordability — 30th
Crime rate per capita — 30th
And here are most- and least-stressed states:
10 most-stressed states
1. Louisiana
2. Mississippi
3. Arkansas
4. Kentucky
5. West Virginia
6. New Mexico
7. Alabama
8. Nevada
9. Alaska
10. Oklahoma
10 least-stressed states
41. Montana
42. Hawaii
43. Wisconsin
44. New Hampshire
45. Iowa
46. South Dakota
47. North Dakota
48. Massachusetts
49. Utah
50. Minnesota
