These Are The 10 Stressed Places In West Virginia

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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 West Virginia 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 West Virginia take being stressed to the next level?

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

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

For more WV reading, check out:

How We Measured Stress In West Virginia (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 27 places in West Virginia 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 27 (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 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 27 places we analyzed.

1. Martinsburg

Population: 17,508People With High Rent: 57.5%
People With Long Commute: 27.4%
People Without Insurance: 18.5%

2. Moundsville

Population: 8,960People With High Rent: 42.0%
People With Long Commute: 21.5%
People Without Insurance: 15.3%

3. Princeton

Population: 6,387People With High Rent: 50.5%
People With Long Commute: 20.1%
People Without Insurance: 13.6%

4. Parkersburg

Population: 31,195People With High Rent: 53.1%
People With Long Commute: 12.7%
People Without Insurance: 15.4%

5. Grafton

Population: 5,179People With High Rent: 19.3%
People With Long Commute: 36.1%
People Without Insurance: 21.2%

6. Huntington

Population: 49,053People With High Rent: 51.5%
People With Long Commute: 14.4%
People Without Insurance: 15.1%

7. Keyser

Population: 5,350People With High Rent: 42.5%
People With Long Commute: 27.7%
People Without Insurance: 11.5%

8. Fairmont

Population: 18,746People With High Rent: 55.7%
People With Long Commute: 26.2%
People Without Insurance: 14.0%

9. Oak Hill

Population: 8,270People With High Rent: 46.0%
People With Long Commute: 29.0%
People Without Insurance: 12.2%

10. Clarksburg

Population: 16,437People With High Rent: 47.0%
People With Long Commute: 14.9%
People Without Insurance: 15.5%

Detailed List Of Stressed Places In West Virginia

City	Rank	Population	People With High Rent	People With Long Commute	People Without Insurance
Martinsburg	1	17,508	57.5%	27.4%	18.5%
Moundsville	2	8,960	42.0%	21.5%	15.3%
Princeton	3	6,387	50.5%	20.1%	13.6%
Parkersburg	4	31,195	53.1%	12.7%	15.4%
Grafton	5	5,179	19.3%	36.1%	21.2%
Huntington	6	49,053	51.5%	14.4%	15.1%
Keyser	7	5,350	42.5%	27.7%	11.5%
Fairmont	8	18,746	55.7%	26.2%	14.0%
Oak Hill	9	8,270	46.0%	29.0%	12.2%
Clarksburg	10	16,437	47.0%	14.9%	15.5%
Elkins	11	7,241	49.2%	7.4%	15.6%
Charles Town	12	5,464	40.1%	42.6%	11.4%
Morgantown	13	30,133	53.0%	14.4%	12.3%
Hurricane	14	6,352	51.9%	38.1%	6.5%
Dunbar	15	7,844	36.7%	13.5%	14.6%
St. Albans	16	10,939	29.9%	27.3%	13.1%
Buckhannon	17	5,646	41.3%	22.6%	14.3%
New Martinsville	18	5,322	59.3%	16.4%	11.8%
Vienna	19	10,654	46.1%	15.2%	13.0%
Beckley	20	17,529	37.6%	14.1%	15.3%
Weirton	21	19,523	39.6%	34.7%	10.5%
Wheeling	22	28,129	47.2%	17.7%	11.5%
Charleston	23	50,911	40.9%	11.8%	11.8%
South Charleston	24	13,380	35.6%	11.8%	12.6%
Nitro	25	6,860	34.6%	20.6%	7.9%
Bluefield	26	10,465	43.3%	10.1%	11.4%
Bridgeport	27	8,316	32.6%	17.9%	7.7%

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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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