Florida Most Stressed Out State? Really?!!!

It’ s official, Florida is the most stressed out state in America, according to a new study by the website Movoto.

Who is Movoto? We’re not really sure, but they do studies.

Florida came in at No. 1 on its top 10 list of the most stressed out states. The study was based on a set of six criteria that stress people out. Here are the factors:

• Percentage of population with a long commute (over 20 minutes)–they should talk to people in Chicagoland, LA, Northern Virginia, NY, etc. etc. 20 minutes would be a fantasy for them.

• Unemployment

• Hours worked

• Population density

• Percentage of income spent on housing

• Percentage of population without health insurance

The higher any of these was, the more stressful the people of the state are.

Movoto’s data is from the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey for 2008-2012.

The site, known for doing offbeat studies about places where people live, noted that Florida ranked as the third worst state when it came to both the percentage of the population without health insurance (25.8 percent) and unemployment rate (11.3 percent).

Here are the Top 10 most stressed out states:

1. Florida

2. Georgia

3. New Jersey

4. California

5. Nevada

6. Illinois

7. New York

8. Maryland

9. North Carolina

10. Arizona

And the least stressed? That would be North Dakota.

While we adore North Dakota, where would you rather live, the Sunshine State or North Dakota?

Sure, we don’t dispute that Florida has its share of stressors, but we cope by focusing on the positive. Such as:

• Magnificent weather, especially the winter months.
• Lots of things to do, year-round.
• Palm trees
• An ocean warm enough to swim in
• No state income tax
• A1A
• Great college football teams
• The Heat, yes The Heat, despite last night’s disappointment.

We can go on and on, but you get the drift. Movoto we urge you to take another look. Try coming back in February when the temps are below zero in North Dakota and see how stressed we are.