The 10 Most and Least Stressed States

By Krista Franks Brock

Louisianans are more than twice as stressed as Minnesotans, according to a report released Tuesday by WalletHub. After surveying Americans on 38 stress indicators, which fell under four major categories, WalletHub found life in the Bayou state is more stressed out than any other state in the nation.

The four major categories considered for the study were work-related stress, money-related stress, family-related stress, and health- and safety-related stress. Respondents answered questions about issues such as how many hours they worked each week, how many hours they slept each night, and how secure they felt in their jobs. WalletHub also took housing affordability into consideration.

Louisiana ranked high in all four categories for stress, coming in at No. 4 in the nation for work-related stress, No. 3 for money-related stress as well as health- and safety-related stress. The state ranked No. 8 for family-related stress.

However, when it comes to housing affordability, Louisiana ranked near the middle. In fact, none of the states that ranked in the top 10 for overall stress claimed spots in the top 10 list for least affordable housing markets, according to WalletHub, which measured affordability in terms of “Median House Price/Median Annual Household Income and the Weighted Annual Fair Market Rent for 2 Bedroom Apartment as Share of Median Annual Household Income,” according to WalletHub’s communications manager.

The 10 most stressed states in the nation included Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, Mississippi, Nevada, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

While it did not rank in the top 10 for overall stress, Alaska ranked highest in the nation for work-related stress. Mississippi residents appear to be the most stressed about money. Nevada residents feel more stressed about family than the residents of other states, and the state with the most health- and family-related stress is West Virginia.

At the other end of the spectrum, life in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” is pretty laid back, according to WalletHub’s assessment. Minnesota ranked last for both money-related stress and health- and safety-related stress. It ranked No. 42 for work-related stress and No. 49 for family-related stress.

Apart from Minnesota, the least stressful states included, North Dakota, Utah, Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Colorado, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Nebraska.

While Minnesota took the top spot for least stress related to money and health and safety, North Dakota residents reported feeling the least amount of family-related stress, and Utah residents reported the least amount of stress about work.

Though low housing affordability did not correlate strongly with high overall stress, there was a strong overlap between states with high affordability and low stress. Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Nebraska all ranked in the top 10 for housing affordability and the bottom 10 for stress, according to the study.

The highest job security was felt in Utah, Georgia, Oregon, and Florida. On the other hand the lowest job security was reported in Wyoming, Iowa, Alaska, and Missouri.

Krista Franks Brock is a writer and editor who has covered the mortgage banking and default servicing industries since 2011. Previously, she served as managing editor of DS News and Southern Distinction, a regional lifestyle publication. Her work has appeared in a variety of print and online publications, including Consumers Digest, Dallas Style and Design, DS News and DSNews.com, MReport and theMReport.com. She holds degrees in journalism and art from the University of Georgia.