Despite our reputation, New Jerseyans aren’t that stressed

If you live in New Jersey, you get used to idiot drivers, people living on top of each other, high taxes…the list of frustrations goes on and on. Given that, you might think that we here in New Jersey must be among the most stressed folks in the country. Well, a new study out refutes that.

The study, by Wallet Hub, ranks the states from most to least stressed based on their scores in four broad categories:

Work Related Stress (hours worked per week, commute time, unemployment rates, etc.)
Money Related Stress (median income, bankruptcy rate, debt to income ratio, etc.)

Family Related Stress (separation/divorce rate, cost of childcare, share of single parents, etc.)
Health & Safety Related Stress (adults in poor health, depression rate, suicide rate access to healthcare)

So, where does New Jersey rank? Somewhat surprisingly, we’re all the way down at #44!

The highest ranking we have is in Work Related Stress at #16; in Money Related Stress, we’re all the way down at 48. For Family Related Stress, we’re #39, and in Health and Safety, we’re 42nd.

Some areas that help our score include: divorce rate (we’re third lowest), and crime rate per capita (fourth lowest).

Conversely, the most stressed state is Mississippi (top ten in all four categories; #1 in money related stress). Louisiana is second.

The least stressed state? Minnesota. Things must be going well in the Land of 10,000 Lakes because they have least money related stress of any state.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

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