Tacoma ranks as most stressful U.S. city (thanks to The Venomous One....)
MOST STRESSFUL CITIES
1. Tacoma
2. Miami
3. New Orleans
4. Las Vegas
5. New York
6. Portland
7. Mobile, Alabama
8. Stockton-Lodi, California
9. Detroit
10. Dallas
If you've ever spent any time in Tacoma, it's not difficult to understand where this ranking comes from. When I lived in Portland, OR (#6 on this list, BTW), a friend once told me (and I apologize for the crudeness of this analogy...) that "when Seattle s***s, Tacoma is where they look for the toilet paper". Indeed.
SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) -- Move over New York, take a hike Miami, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Dallas and Detroit. You may have stress but none of you have that rare combination of suicide, unemployment, theft and gloomy weather that Tacoma, Washington, has.
The city of 195,000 just 30 miles south of Seattle was named America's most stressful city in a survey published Friday.
Tacoma ranked at the top of 100 large metro areas surveyed by the BestPlaces ranking researcher, which also took into account other factors such as commute times, alcohol consumption and self-reported mental health.
"America leads the world in stressful living," said Bert Sperling, who runs Portland, Oregon, based BestPlaces, "The average vacation time in Europe is five weeks a year but our attitude is almost 'Thank God it's Monday"'
The city where convicted Washington, D.C. area sniper John Muhammad lived is home to large blue-collar and military populations.
The only good thing about Tacoma is that if you're driving from Portland to Seattle it means you're almost there. Take away the spectacular view of Mt. Rainier on a clear day, and it's Cleveland with less sunshine. Thankfully, I-5 runs straight through Tacoma, and if you keep your windows rolled up and drive fast, you might not even smell the paper plants.
When you get to Seattle, relax, order a latter, and remember: It could be worse. You could actually have to live in Tacoma. Of course, you still have to drive through it on the way back to Portland.
