We in San Francisco are snobs. We think San Francisco is the best place to live--isn't that why we’re here?--and since we are here, it's tops. Taking stress as an indicator of quality of life, however, a new study puts San Francisco in the middle of the U.S., stress-wise.
The report by Portfolio.com and bizjournals looks at stress in the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas. San Francisco-Oakland is ranked 22nd, with .163 points. Detroit, the most stressful city, scored 9.03 points; Salt Lake City, the least stressed, scored -7.9 points.
The others among the 10 highest-stress hotspots are Los Angeles; Cleveland; Riverside, CA; St. Louis; New York City; New Orleans; Chicago; Birmingham; and Miami-Fort Lauderdale.
Along with Salt Lake City, low-stress cities are Virginia Beach-Norfolk; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Raleigh; Austin; Oklahoma City; Denver; San Antonio; Kansas City; and Phoenix.
In the study, “stress” includes economic factors (e.g., unemployment, income)--which are the subject of a recent AP Economic Stress Index report--as well as elements like sunshine, commuting time, heart-disease-related deaths, ozone levels (air pollution), crime and housing costs.
Relax and take a deep breath, because San Francisco has the lowest ozone levels in the U.S. Ironically, though, California also has the highest levels of ozone, in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Riverside.
San Francisco also stands out housing-wise. Comparing median home values and median household incomes, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose have the least affordable housing in the nation.
But pricey housing may be worth it compared to high poverty (14 percent of Memphis families are officially classified as poor) or high crime rates (Cleveland gets 828 robberies per 100,000 residents; New Orleans, the murder capital of the U.S., has 52 murders per 100,000 residents). In San Francisco, 6.3 percent of families live below poverty level, and there are 423 robberies and 6 murders for every 100,000 residents.
