Twin Cities Metro Life Among the Least Stressful

Life really is pretty good in the Twin Cities metro. According to a survey commissioned by Portfolio.com, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area is among the least-stressful metropolises in the United States.

Portfolio.com's survey compared the nation's 50 largest metro areas on such things as crime rates, commuting time, unemployment and heart-disease deaths. Minneapolis and St. Paul came up third on the list of "least-stressed cities," behind Salt Lake City and Virginia Beach-Norfolk, Va. Detroit, Los Angeles and Cleveland ranked as the three most stressful cities.

With some of the lowest unemployment, murder, poverty and even ozone pollution levels in the country, the Twin Cities meto area ranked pretty well in all of these catgories in 2009. In contrast, Detroit languished due high unemployment, poverty and crime rates.

"It's no secret that living in a big city can add some serious stress to your life. But that doesn't you have to be truly stressed out just by being in one of the nation's population hubs. This study shows that a healthy and relatively low stress life can be achieved in at least a few urban areas," said J. Jennings Moss, editor of Portfolio.com.

View the full analysis at Portfolio.com.