The Associated Press’s latest stress index has been released and places Nevada again at the top of the list. Nationwide the latest stress index is at its highest reading since August. On a scale from 1 – 100, the average for the country is 10.3. Here are the top-five most stressed states along with their respective indices:
- Nevada: 21.96
- Florida: 17.14
- California: 16.42
- Michigan: 14.83
- Arizona: 14.6
According to the story "Nevada has been stuck with the highest monthly Stress score since it surpassed Michigan in March 2008". See Unemployment and foreclosures push up economic stress, reversing trend, AP stress map shows for the story. And for an interactive map showing the country’s stress by County, click here.
ApoplecticallyStressedOut
Nevada is the most stressed out state. What does that mean? Just trying to sell a few more page views with some manufactured story. I have to echo the recent comments disparaging these lists.
Next time I ski down the mountain and gaze upon Lake Tahoe, I’ll try to remember how stressed out I am. Next time I take my kid for a hike, I’ll remember how stressed out I am. Next time I breath fresh mountain air, and remember the brown cloud of LA, I’ll remember I should feel a bit more disgruntled….
geopower
the article was on economic stress, not being “stressed out”. From the parent article, “The AP’s index calculates a score from 1 to 100 based on unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates,” which doesn’t translate into stress for those who keep their jobs and houses.
Still, I agree the litany of lists telling us how horrible Nevada is is getting pretty old. But when there isn’t time for actual reporting (by the AP or this blog) this kind of ranking fills the space.
nevadaisdead
Isn’t “denial” one of the steps of dealing with a loss?
Carleton
This is some sort of “stress test” based upon the number of foreclosures, bankruptcies, and unemployment in all the states.
Since Nevada leads the nation in foreclosure filings, bankruptcy filings, and the unemployment rate, this outcome is a no-brainer.
Nevada in first place by a large margin. This is news to nobody here in Nevada.
Donna
These lists of how bad things are in Nevada do get boring after a while. But they do mean one thing: Nevada will be the last state out of the Great Recession. No state has a bigger hole to crawl out of, and no state has fewer tools with which to crawl.
Things will be economically quite fine in a lot of other states long before Nevada is back to normal.
Move to Reno?
Of course, once all those other States bounce back to economic health their inhabitants will need to visit Reno or Las Vegas in order to party like it’s 1999.
longerwalk
I agree that these ‘lists’ are clearly just a way to get more click-through traffic. I would note that Nevada probably isn’t doing particularly well in many other measures, though. In measures of, say, public health (child & maternal death), meth arrests, educational level, and similar indicators of the general state of the populace, I suspect Nevada isn’t leading the right parade. It will be exceedingly interesting to watch the new legislature & governor grappling with current problems. Despite the difficulties Nevada has, there’s a lot to be said for what’s not measured (or treasured) . . . the outdoor recreational opportunities are tremendous, along with mineral resources.
billddrummer
So Nevada is the most stressed state based upon the normal things that stress people out:
I guess I should be stressed because I’m underemployed, but I don’t feel any more stress without work than I did when I was working for a failing business.
Sometimes the removal of a burden compensates for the addition of another one.