Stressed? Not from around here, are you?

Updated: September 6, 2010 - 9:05 PM

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Could it be the lakes? The parks? The snow effect? Apparently, the Twin Cities area is among the least-stressful metropolises in the United States, according to a new survey.

The survey, commissioned by Portfolio.com, compared the nation's 50 largest metro areas on such things as crime rates, commuting time, unemployment and heart-disease deaths.

This time, Minneapolis and St. Paul were well below average. But even Garrison Keillor would approve. The Twin Cities came up third on the list of "least-stressed cities," behind Salt Lake City and Virginia Beach-Norfolk, Va.

The three most stressful: Detroit, Los Angeles and Cleveland.

IT ISN'T THE SEA BREEZES

The survey used 10 measures of quality of life to come up with a "stress index." Curiously, it included "percentage of possible sunshine received during an average year." But even our latitude couldn't hold us back.

With some of the lowest unemployment, murder, poverty and even ozone pollution levels in the country, the Twin Cities area was difficult to beat in 2009, the survey found.

Detroit, by comparison, languished because of its steep unemployment rate (14.3 percent), and high poverty and crime rates.

HE'D MISS PRETZEL VENDORS

The assumption is that all those factors affect people's stress levels, said J. Jennings Moss, editor of Portfolio.com, a business news website based in New York (the sixth most-stressful city).

Although he calls the Twin Cities "a glorious place," Moss admits he has no plans to move here.

"New York is, no doubt, one of the most stressful cities in the country, but along with a little bit of stress, there are benefits," he said. "It does all balance out."

The full survey can be found at www.portfolio.com.

MAURA LERNER

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Last update: Monday September 6, 2010 - 6:20 PM

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