According to a survey done by the financial website SmartAssest, Duluth is the least stressed city in America. I find these results a little hard to believe.

To get the results, the website took a look at 9 factors:

  • Average hours residents work per week
  • Average commute times
  • Percent of residents who are getting sufficient physical activity
  • Density of entertainment establishments
  • Unemployment rate
  • Bankruptcy rate
  • Housing costs as a percent of income
  • Average amount of sleep per night
  • Divorce rate
smartasset.com
smartasset.com
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After naming Duluth the least-stressed city, they wrote this about our "laid back"  frozen tundra:

Duluth took the top spot for the least-stressed city in America, jumping up from third in last year’s study. One of the benefits of working in Duluth is the relatively short work weeks. The average work week in Duluth is 35 hours, a slight increase from last year.

If you worked less what sort of things might you do? Sleep more? That is exactly what Duluth residents seem to do. The average resident here comes pretty close to getting the recommended eight hours per night, sleeping an average of 7.2 hours per night. That’s the fifth-most in the country. If this has convinced you to move to Duluth, be aware that the income taxes in Minnesota are high.

So let me counter argue some of this. I get the less work hours sound great, but that would stress me out even more. The more I work, the easier I can rest knowing my bills will be paid on time. Owning a house is a huge stresser because the darn property taxes are so high! I barley sleep, but that has nothing to do with our beautiful city.  I think we need more entertainment establishments here and somedays I don't know if my car will even start because it's so cold half of the year.

Depending on what neighborhood you're walking in, you could be stressed about getting shot or stabbed. You could also be stressed about what pothole just did to your car because there are so many and they come out of nowhere! But apparently we live a pretty stress free life here in the Northland. I mean there is no other place I'd want to live, but definitely a lot of stresses in the city. You can get all the results of the survey here and let know if you think we deserve this title in the comments below.

 

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