Columbia Scores Well In Stress Study

COLUMBIA, MD —WalletHub.com, a personal finance website, released its list of "2021's Most & Least Stressed Cities in America" on Monday, and Columbia was ranked No. 178, falling squarely in the "least stressed" end of the study.

According a release, 182 cities - including 150 of the most populated in the U.S. and at least two of the most populated cities in each state - were evaluated for the list. The methodology included 41 relevant metrics across four key dimensions: work stress, financial stress, family stress and health and safety stress. Within each dimension, different types of stress was assigned a point value.

Columbia's overall stress score of 30.04 was higher than just four other cities evaluated for the study: Nashua, New Hampshire (30.00), Madison, Wisconsin (29.67), Fremont, California (28.59) and South Burlington, Vermont (27.25).

The Howard County city scored the best in health and safety stress, ranking No. 181 on the list. Among the factors evaluated within the health and safety stress dimension were: average daily COVID-19 deaths in the past week per capita, average daily COVID-19 cases in the past week per capita, percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated, share of adults in fair or poor health and share of adults who could not see a doctor because of cost.

Columbia also scored well in the financial stress dimension, ranking No. 178. Perhaps this makes sense given that Columbia has the highest median annual household income (adjusted by cost of living) at $98, 861 in the study. That number is 3.4 times higher than in Newark, New Jersey, the city with the lowest at $28,757, according to WalletHub.

Other factors considered in the financial stress dimension were: share of households behind on bills in the past 12 months, foreclosure rate, personal-bankruptcy rate, median debt per median earnings, median credit score and poverty rate.

Columbia actually scored the lowest on work stress, where it ranked No. 40. Among the factors evaluated for the work stress dimension were: average weekly work hours, job security, traffic congestion, unemployment rate and underemployment rate.

WalletHub pointed out that stress levels have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a recent study by the American Psychological Association finding that more than six in 10 adults had undesired weight changes since the start of the pandemic. Plus, one in four essential workers had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder.

However, the publication noted that certain kinds of stress can have positive effects on a person's well-being.

According to Psychology Today: "A little bit of stress, known as 'acute stress' can be exciting - it keeps us active and alert."

What are the best ways to reduce stress?

"Exercise proved to be very effective in managing stress and anxiety, so a regular exercise routine could be one of the best ways to combat stress," Johnna Swartz, associate professor at University of California-Davis told WalletHub.com. "Other ways to manage stress include: yoga, mindfulness meditation or finding hobbies outside of work such as baking, art or gardening.

"In addition, seeking out a therapist could help with identifying more personalized strategies to manage stress."

Baltimore was the other Maryland city evaluated for the stress study, and it finished high on the list, which is bad.

Charm City was No. 4, scoring 55.13, and only finishing below No. 1 Cleveland (61.55), No. 2 Detroit (56.66) and No. 3 New Orleans (55.52).