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Is New Jersey Among The Most Stressed Out States In America?

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Is The Garden State among the most stressed out states in America?

Movoto, a real estate research blog, published a map Friday that takes a look at which states they say are the most stressed out.

They ranked New Jersey the third most stressed out state.

How did they measure stress? The blog selected a set of six criteria that they say reflect its root causes for most people and used them to look at 48 states (not including Alaska or Hawaii):

  • Percentage of population with a long commute (over 20 minutes)
  • 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 says they used data from the U.S. Census' American Community Survey for 2008-2012.

They ranked each state from 1 to 48 (with one being the most stressed side of the scale) in the six individual criteria. These ranks were then averaged into one total score, the lowest of which was the most stressed out state in America.

Here's their list of the 10 Most Stressed Out States:

1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. New Jersey
4. California
5. Nevada
6. Illinois
7. New York (New York is "New Jersey Lite" when it comes to stress, according to Movoto)
8. Maryland
9. North Carolina
10. Arizona

So how did New Jersey earn the third spot?

According to Movoto, the Garden State's population density and property tax contributed to its ranking.

Delaware was ranked 24th with Pennsylvania at 25th.

To read more, click here.

What are your thoughts on the blog's findings? Comments below or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter @CBSPhilly.

 

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