Georgia Is One Of The Most Stressed Out States In America
Sometimes life can get stressful. More than a quarter of adults in the U.S. say that most days they are so stressed out “it’s hard to function,” according to the American Psychological Association’s 2022 “Stress in America” poll. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, once stress reaches a chronic level it can cause health problems like insomnia, anxiety, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system. Unfortunately, stress is normal and is just a part of life. But some states are more stressed than others.
Methodology
Komowa, a wellness brand, put together a ranking in collaboration with Datawrapper of the most and least stressed states in America. They compared U.S. states based on 16 key factors, including hours worked, credit card debt, divorce rates, commute times, and more. The key factors were grouped by similarities and narrowed down to four main categories. These include money stress, work stress, work stress, health stress, and family stress. To gather their data, the wellness brand used data from the CDC, U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and more.
Where Georgia Ranks
Coming in at number 7 is Georgia. According to the ranking, the state earned this spot largely due to work stress and its day-to-day commute. Reason Foundation reported that Georgia drivers waste 28.9 hours a year in traffic congestion. Fox reported that Atlanta drivers alone wasted more than 70 hours stuck in traffic in 2022.
Overall, the top three most stressed states in the U.S. include Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma. The ranking points out that Tennessee scored “very high” for the most health stress. They also highlighted that residents of Tennessee also work more than the average American. Interestingly, Alabama was one of the states with one of the highest divorce rates. Regarding Oklahoma, the state holds the top spot for health stress. In the ranking, they mention that It can be directly linked to the percentage of residents without healthcare.
Check out the complete ranking here.
