New Report Says Portland, Maine, Is One of America’s Least Stressed Cities

Apparently, Portlanders are bringing that laid-back lifestyle to the forefront, at least according to a new report. Maine's largest city is officially one of America's least stressed cities.

WalletHub, the personal finance website, recently released its annual rankings of the most and least stressed cities in the nation.

How Stressed is Portland Compared to Other American Cities?

Portland knocked it out of the park, finishing 171st out of 181 cities. In this case, that's a very good thing, because the lower a city ranks, the less stressed its residents are.

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Portland earned a stress score of 33.78 out of a possible 100. The rankings were based on four major categories: Work Stress, Financial Stress, Family Stress, and Health & Safety Stress. Those categories were then broken down into 39 subcategories to create as detailed an analysis as possible. You can read more about the methodology here.

Portland performed well across the board, with its best result coming in Family Stress, where it ranked 172nd. Considering family is often one of life's biggest sources of stress, that's an impressive showing. Apparently, Portland families are handling things a little better than the rest of us.

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The city's next-best category was Health & Safety Stress, where it ranked 154th. This category takes into account factors such as suicide rates, mental health, obesity, and overall health. While there's always room for improvement, Portland still scored very well overall.

Next came Financial Stress, where Portland finished 146th. It's encouraging to see residents managing their finances well enough to rank among the least financially stressed cities in the country. Sure, people love to complain about how expensive it is to live here, but that's becoming the reality just about everywhere these days.

Portland's lowest ranking came in Work Stress, though even that was a respectable 124th. This category includes factors such as unemployment, job security, traffic congestion, and workplace conditions. All things considered, it's still a very solid result.

The best way to sum up Portland's performance is that it was consistently unremarkable—and for a report like this, that's exactly what you want. The lower and more stable the rankings, the better.

Portland wasn't the only Maine city included in the report. Lewiston also made the list and turned in a respectable performance, finishing 94th overall. Once again, the lower the ranking, the better.

What's the Least Stressed City in New England?

While Portland did well, it wasn't New England's top performer. That honor went to South Burlington, Vermont, which ranked 180th overall, making it the second least-stressed city in America.

READ MORE: Where to Drink in Portland, Maine: The Highest-Rated Breweries on TripAdvisor

The least-stressed city in the nation was Fremont, California, while the most stressed was Detroit, Michigan. At least the Lions are competitive these days.

You can check out the full rankings here.