These Are The 10 Stressed Places In Vermont

.street-view{width:100%;height:300px;pointer-events:none;}

Swipe left for slideshow. Article continues below.

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

And there are certain places in Vermont 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 Vermont take being stressed to the next level?

It turns out the good people of Bellows Falls have earned the dubious distinction of being the most stressed out place in Vermont. The city is at the top of the pack of the 10 most stressed out places in the Green Mountain State:

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

For more VT reading, check out:

How We Measured Stress In Vermont (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 25 places in Vermont with a population over 2,000 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 25 (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 Green Mountain 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 25 places we analyzed.

1. Bellows Falls

Population: 2,766People With High Rent: 56.4%
People With Long Commute: 18.4%
People Without Insurance: 10.2%

2. St. Albans

Population: 6,889People With High Rent: 62.5%
People With Long Commute: 39.5%
People Without Insurance: 6.5%

3. Windsor

Population: 2,138 People With High Rent: 57.1%
People With Long Commute: 32.7%
People Without Insurance: 10.0%

4. Fair Haven

Population: 2,347 People With High Rent: 47.1%
People With Long Commute: 28.9%
People Without Insurance: 16.4%

5. Bennington

Population: 8,933 People With High Rent: 60.5%
People With Long Commute: 14.0%
People Without Insurance: 7.6%

6. Winooski

Population: 7,250People With High Rent: 54.8%
People With Long Commute: 19.3%
People Without Insurance: 7.3%

7. Barre

Population: 8,955People With High Rent: 57.5%
People With Long Commute: 20.0%
People Without Insurance: 6.7%

8. Burlington

Population: 42,342People With High Rent: 58.3%
People With Long Commute: 16.6%
People Without Insurance: 6.4%

9. Rutland

Population: 16,217People With High Rent: 56.2%
People With Long Commute: 13.6%
People Without Insurance: 6.5%

10. St. Johnsbury

Population: 5,922People With High Rent: 52.3%
People With Long Commute: 18.6%
People Without Insurance: 9.3%

Detailed List Of Stressed Places In Vermont

City	Rank	Population	People With High Rent	People With Long Commute	People Without Insurance
Bellows Falls	1	2,766	56.4%	18.4%	10.2%
St. Albans	2	6,889	62.5%	39.5%	6.5%
Windsor	3	2,138	57.1%	32.7%	10.0%
Fair Haven	4	2,347	47.1%	28.9%	16.4%
Bennington	5	8,933	60.5%	14.0%	7.6%
Winooski	6	7,250	54.8%	19.3%	7.3%
Barre	7	8,955	57.5%	20.0%	6.7%
Burlington	8	42,342	58.3%	16.6%	6.4%
Rutland	9	16,217	56.2%	13.6%	6.5%
St. Johnsbury	10	5,922	52.3%	18.6%	9.3%
Swanton	11	2,389	49.2%	33.5%	6.3%
Brattleboro	12	7,132	46.6%	13.1%	7.0%
Newport	13	4,535	58.0%	15.8%	7.0%
Springfield	14	3,913	49.9%	22.8%	6.2%
Essex Junction	15	9,552	59.8%	14.5%	4.5%
Randolph	16	2,361	45.5%	30.7%	8.8%
Morrisville	17	2,194	45.2%	27.0%	9.2%
Vergennes	18	2,579	35.6%	33.2%	5.6%
White River Junction	19	2,327	34.6%	7.2%	14.2%
Northfield	20	2,677	57.3%	21.5%	3.8%
Montpelier	21	7,760	39.9%	21.8%	6.4%
West Brattleboro	22	2,758	38.1%	16.7%	5.5%
South Burlington	23	18,378	44.0%	8.9%	5.1%
Manchester Center	24	2,211	49.1%	8.9%	2.1%
Middlebury	25	6,713	49.5%	9.1%	5.0%

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

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.

Create Resume