Chill! Here’s the Most Stressed Out City in Iowa
Look, it's been a tough couple of years. Prior to 2022, things were shut down, or there were worker shortages. While we're not fully out of the COVID era, and certainly businesses still have worker shortages, things have at least improved.
So with things tense for a good number of us, you might be surprised to see the folks at Wall St. 24/7 have decided to find each state's most stressed city.
Before we find out Iowa's most stressed city, let's look at how the folks at 24/7 got their data. The site says they use
...an index of data measuring the two most common sources of stress — money and work — in each state’s metropolitan areas.
With that in mind, according to their study, Davenport is the most stressed city in the state of Iowa. But, there's an issue with their data. An issue that shows they're only half paying attention to their own study.
The study doesn't just say Davenport is Iowa's most stressed city, they specifically list "Davenport-Moline-Rock Island". Well okay, these are cities within the Quad Cities, but they're also in Illinois and not Iowa.
Stripping out the gripes with the study, a deeper dive shows the following stats:
- Poverty rate: 11.3%
- Median household income: $62,001
- Adults without health insurance: 5.8%
- Violent crime rate: 366 per 100,000 people
- Population: 378,923 (this is accurate, but only if you count three of the four cities in the Quad Cities. Again, two of these cities are in Illinois.
There you have it. Another day, another sketchy study that claims to know, in this case, where our most stressed populous is. Perhaps they're right about Davenport... but the others? I guess Iowa has adopted the two Illinois cities in the Quad Cities.
Despite Iowa picking up two Illinois towns in the study, Decatur is (technically) Illinois's most stressed according to this study. Duluth takes the cake in Minnesota, and Whitewater is Wisconsin's most stressed city.