These Are The 10 Stressed Places In Mississippi

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You know that tight feeling in your chest when you start a new job? That’s stress.

And there are certain places in Mississippi that have more to stress out about then just their first day at work.

There are things like dealing with ever-longer commutes, working longer and longer hours, and just trying to find a job in the first place. But which places in Mississippi take being stressed to the next level?

It turns out the good people of Waveland have earned the dubious distinction of being the most stressed out place in Mississippi. The city is at the top of the pack of the 10 most stressed out places in the Magnolia State:

Read on to see why these places in Mississippi could use a Xanax.

For more MS reading, check out:

How We Measured Stress In Mississippi (Without Stressing Out)

In order to measure stress, we selected a set of six criteria that reflect its root causes for most people and used them to look at the 61 places in Mississippi with a population over 5,000 according to the 2010-2014 American Community Survey:

Percentage of population with a long commute (over 30 minutes)
Unemployment Rate
Hours worked
Population density
Percentage of income spent on rent
Percentage of population without health insurance

The higher any of these was, the more stressful the people of the place are.

Our data is from the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey for 2010-2014.

We ranked each place from 1 to 61 (with one being the most stressed side of the scale) in the six individual criteria. These ranks were then averaged into a Stress Score, the lowest of which was the most stressed out place in the Magnolia State.

Below, we’ll take a look at the standout stress stats for each top 10 most stressed places, and wrap the whole thing up with a detailed ranking of all 61 places we analyzed.

1. Waveland

Population: 6,463People With High Rent: 57.7%
People With Long Commute: 37.6%
People Without Insurance: 33.3%

2. Yazoo City

Population: 11,462People With High Rent: 56.5%
People With Long Commute: 31.6%
People Without Insurance: 18.0%

3. Horn Lake

Population: 26,486People With High Rent: 51.6%
People With Long Commute: 40.7%
People Without Insurance: 18.4%

4. Columbia

Population: 6,446People With High Rent: 65.7%
People With Long Commute: 32.4%
People Without Insurance: 17.2%

5. Greenville

Population: 33,518People With High Rent: 54.0%
People With Long Commute: 13.0%
People Without Insurance: 21.9%

6. Gulfport

Population: 69,913People With High Rent: 55.9%
People With Long Commute: 20.4%
People Without Insurance: 22.5%

7. Pascagoula

Population: 22,239People With High Rent: 52.9%
People With Long Commute: 16.9%
People Without Insurance: 24.0%

8. Columbus

Population: 23,483People With High Rent: 55.4%
People With Long Commute: 17.6%
People Without Insurance: 22.1%

9. Louisville

Population: 6,498People With High Rent: 57.3%
People With Long Commute: 28.8%
People Without Insurance: 20.0%

10. Jackson

Population: 173,631People With High Rent: 55.9%
People With Long Commute: 20.0%
People Without Insurance: 19.0%

Detailed List Of Stressed Places In Mississippi

City	Rank	Population	People With High Rent	People With Long Commute	People Without Insurance
Waveland	1	6,463	57.7%	37.6%	33.3%
Yazoo City	2	11,462	56.5%	31.6%	18.0%
Horn Lake	3	26,486	51.6%	40.7%	18.4%
Columbia	4	6,446	65.7%	32.4%	17.2%
Greenville	5	33,518	54.0%	13.0%	21.9%
Gulfport	6	69,913	55.9%	20.4%	22.5%
Pascagoula	7	22,239	52.9%	16.9%	24.0%
Columbus	8	23,483	55.4%	17.6%	22.1%
Louisville	9	6,498	57.3%	28.8%	20.0%
Jackson	10	173,631	55.9%	20.0%	19.0%
Indianola	11	10,426	45.7%	24.9%	18.7%
Gautier	12	18,581	46.7%	36.7%	21.6%
Picayune	13	10,838	45.9%	38.0%	21.9%
Greenwood	14	15,873	48.4%	10.6%	19.5%
Moss Point	15	13,690	51.7%	24.1%	19.4%
Holly Springs	16	7,585	45.0%	39.3%	18.3%
McComb	17	12,771	53.8%	18.9%	19.7%
Biloxi	18	44,527	49.5%	15.4%	20.4%
West Point	19	11,200	53.9%	22.4%	17.7%
Laurel	20	18,720	47.7%	19.8%	18.3%
Bay St. Louis	21	10,313	38.6%	30.3%	22.5%
Long Beach	22	15,224	46.1%	23.5%	16.2%
Pearl	23	26,105	50.3%	22.9%	16.7%
Hattiesburg	24	46,629	58.0%	13.5%	17.6%
Vicksburg	25	23,559	51.4%	13.2%	21.8%
Cleveland	26	12,318	50.2%	15.9%	15.1%
Clarksdale	27	17,497	42.6%	18.1%	17.5%
Southaven	28	50,389	43.3%	31.1%	14.4%
Brookhaven	29	12,499	49.6%	21.1%	19.5%
Byram	30	11,609	48.4%	45.4%	12.7%
Philadelphia	31	7,446	43.0%	24.9%	16.6%
Oxford	32	20,200	60.2%	11.5%	15.8%
Kosciusko	33	7,302	41.6%	20.8%	14.2%
Amory	34	7,197	40.0%	31.8%	15.0%
Aberdeen	35	5,492	42.5%	32.2%	14.3%
Corinth	36	14,797	47.7%	13.0%	19.6%
Natchez	37	15,563	41.5%	10.9%	18.8%
Petal	38	10,675	54.3%	20.0%	14.9%
D’Iberville	39	10,161	40.0%	13.0%	21.7%
Starkville	40	24,457	55.6%	17.3%	12.3%
Olive Branch	41	34,543	33.2%	38.2%	12.8%
Meridian	42	40,809	48.3%	16.0%	15.3%
Ripley	43	5,349	41.3%	29.9%	19.2%
Senatobia	44	8,063	43.6%	35.7%	15.1%
New Albany	45	8,291	36.1%	28.3%	18.5%
Canton	46	13,321	38.5%	26.9%	17.6%
Ocean Springs	47	17,446	33.0%	30.7%	14.2%
Madison	48	24,871	49.3%	25.5%	3.5%
Hernando	49	14,723	42.3%	39.6%	8.5%
Diamondhead	50	8,275	37.1%	51.1%	7.0%
Forest	51	5,719	25.1%	21.4%	21.6%
Brandon	52	22,616	34.5%	40.4%	7.8%
Booneville	53	8,775	36.0%	25.8%	16.1%
Tupelo	54	35,345	49.8%	13.0%	13.8%
Clinton	55	25,486	47.4%	25.8%	13.4%
Grenada	56	12,951	51.7%	14.0%	14.6%
Richland	57	7,012	37.7%	35.2%	12.9%
Ridgeland	58	24,209	37.7%	12.8%	10.1%
Pontotoc	59	5,754	14.6%	23.2%	19.3%
Flowood	60	8,218	28.6%	27.4%	11.7%
Batesville	61	7,436	31.5%	20.4%	10.4%

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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