New Jersey chills as the states stress ranking drop

I did a story last year that was scary, Zippia, a workforce website stated that New Jersey was the 2nd most stressed-out state in the country. The factors for being the second most stressed-out state made sense to me.

New Jersey is the most densely populated state. People are on top of each other and not necessarily in a good way.

People in New Jersey work longer hours get in their cars and have longer commutes with congested highways.

People in New Jersey have a high home price to income ratio, throw in the high property taxes and you can forget about your home being a haven from the work stress that you experience.

These are some of the factors that cause quite a bit of stress for New Jersey residents.

(Photo: Nik Shuliahin, Unsplash)

The pandemic stressed everybody in every state to epic levels. While we are on the mend from that terrible experience there is still a vague threat of it coming back to mess up our social and work interaction.

A new study by wallethub.com has New Jersey ranked as the 44th overall stressed-out state in the country. That is a long way from Zippia’s ranking New Jersey at number 2 last year.

Several factors and sub-rankings averaged a final score to come up with the final overall ranking. Here is how New Jersey fared:

New Jersey ranked 17th overall in work-related stress.

New Jersey ranked 48th in money-related stress.

New Jersey ranked 39th in family-related stress.

New Jersey ranked 32nd in health and safety-related stress.

Those factors gave New Jersey the ranking of the 44th most stressed state in the country.

Overall, in this country, as of 2023, a whopping 84% of Americans report feeling stressed every week. The study also shows that before you walk through the front door of your business or workplace 12% of U.S. workers with long commutes are stressed out before they arrive at the workplace. Throw the day-to-day stress of your job on top of that and that’s intense.

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How do we cope with the stress that we have? Here in New Jersey, we are blessed to have some of the best beaches in the country, boardwalks, parks, different resources like the Liberty Science Center, and many museums that are sprinkled throughout the state. New Jersey isn’t short of great places to chill. I love the food and the music scene. It’s also great to catch a minor league baseball game where the prices are reasonable and the entertainment enjoyable. We have a beautiful Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, Atlantic City, Wildwood, and Cape May.

We must work harder to relieve stress here in New Jersey because we have many stress obstacles that make us feel like we’re stuck in the mud. Utilize the resources that we have here in New Jersey to take a deep breath that will help you cope with the stress that you may be experiencing. Reach out to get some professional help if it’s too overwhelming. Remember you’re Jersey strong! Good luck!