Feeling stressed? You’re not alone in Florida

The sun. The sand. The surf.

The stress?

Indeed, turns out we’re a little stressed in the Sunshine State, with a new study finding that living in Florida might not be all that relaxing.

According to financial research website WalletHub’s annual study, Florida is the 13th-most stressed state in the nation.

So much for all the sun and fun.

With April being Stress Awareness Month, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia in an in-depth analysis looking at stress in a variety of forms, with work, money, family, and health/safety among the 33 key metrics.

WalletHub used data from several sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Council for Community and Economic Research, to determine its findings.

Largely because it has the country’s third-highest divorce rate, Florida was among several southern states ranking among the most-stressed in the nation.

Overall, the Sunshine State was the sixth-worst state for family-related stress, 16th-worst for work-related stress and money-related stress, and 22nd-worst for health/safety-related stress.

Breaking it down further, here’s how Florida ranked in 10 sub-categories, with one being the most stressed and 25 being average:

▪  Third in divorce rate;

▪  Seventh in housing affordability;

▪  Ninth in psychologists per capita;

▪  14th in crime rate per capita;

▪  17th in the percentage of the population living below the poverty line;

▪  17th in median credit score;

▪  18th in the percentage of adults in fair or poor health;

▪  22nd in the number of adults getting adequate sleep each night;

▪  27th in average hours worked per week;

▪  30th in job security.

Several other southern states joined Florida among the most-stressed, including Alabama (first), Louisiana (second), Mississippi (third), Kentucky (fifth), Georgia (eighth), Tennessee (ninth) and South Carolina (11th).

The least-stressed state? Minnesota, followed by North Dakota, Iowa, South Dakota and Utah.

Sun and fun aside, perhaps most Floridians aren’t as relaxed as we claim to be.

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 11:53 AM with the headline "Feeling stressed? You’re not alone in Florida."