These are some stressful times in St. Louis. Deciding what we're going to do with the Arch decay and the Arch grounds, finding a solution to revive downtown and preserve the city's history, holding our breath to see if the Cardinals can pull out of a not-so-great season—and, according to a study by Portfolio.com and bizjournals, it's the fifth most stressful city in the entire country, St. Louis Business Journal reports, which is stressful in itself.
According to the article, Portfolio.com and bizjournals used a formula to estimate stress levels using unemployment rates (St. Louis' is close to 10 percent), income growth, poverty, deaths from circulatory-system diseases, amount of sunshine, commuting, murders, robberies, and housing costs—a hodgepodge of factors that effect our stress levels. Based on this formula, the most stressful city is Detroit, and the least stressful city is Salt Lake City.
Do you think St. Louis deserves to be ranked the fifth most stressful city? What other factors should be included? (I'm thinking success of local sports teams—The Rams' last season had to have caused some stress). Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
