We all have stress. Some more than others. But if you live here in the 605 you are likely less stressed than most people in the country.

A real estate website called Movoto did a study on which states have the most and least stress. South Dakota came in as the third least stressed state in the country. (That's out of the 48 contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii were excluded for some reason.) The study was based on percentage of population with a commute over 20 minutes, unemployment, hours worked, population density, percentage of, income spent on housing, and percentage of population without health insurance.

All this does is confirm my feeling that we live in the best area of the country. Of the six states in the top 10 that border South Dakota, only one of them has a huge major metropolis, that being Minnesota with the Twin Cities.

To me the factor that makes our area less stressful is the low population density. If there are fewer people around to annoy you, the less stress you will have. After spending last week at my in-laws' farm, I sometimes wish I lived in a really small town again, or even live on a farm even if I'm not farming. There are not many people around to bug you. The pace is slow, no one is ever in too big of a hurry. There is no traffic because, if you have a 20 minute commute, it's on rural roads.

Now if I could just win the lottery so I could buy a farm and turn it into my outdoor playland for me and my family. Ah, dreams.

 

 

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