From Deseret News archives:
Provo, Orem rated the nation's least stressful cities
Cities lead study's list of stress-free communities
What, didn't you know? Provo and Orem are stress-free.
Out of 114 mid-sized cities recently listed in a study by Sperling's Best Places, the Provo-Orem area earned the top spot for the least stressful mid-size community in the nation.
The most stressful area on the list is Galveston-Texas City, Texas.
"If it's less stressful here, then it must be really stressful somewhere else," Orem resident Earnal Anderson said Tuesday while shopping with his wife, Elna. "But we like it here and think it's the best place in the world to raise a family — and we travel a lot."
Among the 100 largest metropolitan areas listed, Tacoma, Wash., was ranked No. 1 as the most stressful. Salt Lake City was No. 64 and Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y., at No. 100, was the least stressful.
All places in the study received points for criteria based on their relation to every other place's scores in specific categories.
Communities were ranked in nine categories — divorce rate, unemployment, commute time, violent crime, suicide rate, alcohol consumption, property crime, mental health and cloudy days.
The categories were weighted as to their importance to the study. The unemployment rate, crime, commute time and suicide were the most important categories. Divorce and mental health were of moderate importance. Cloudy days and alcohol consumption were weighted with the least importance.
"I think Provo and Orem are nice places to live with generally good standards," said Ginny Radford, who lives in Springville, Provo's southern neighbor. "There is a lot less smoking, people are more modestly dressed and there is less swearing."
Provo and Orem may have benefited from the presence of Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College.
The owner of the research company that compiled the listings, Bert Sperling, said universities and colleges provide a solid economic base to smaller cities, lessening the stress caused by economic cycles.
Tell that to the students. Combined, BYU and UVSC count more than 50,000 students.
"I feel stressed-out with school whenever I'm in Provo, because I'm always in school," said Rachael Schall, a UVSC student.
One BYU student finds relaxation in his participation on the football team and the nature surrounding Provo. Salesiketekei'aho Finau, 21, a Cougar football player from San Francisco, says "the mountains help lower the stress factor."
But Finau's friend finds Provo uneventful once football practice is over.
"It's boring here in Provo and having nothing to do stresses me out," said Kato Lilo, 18, of Euless, Texas.
Whether Provo-Orem will continue to anchor the top spot among mid-sized cities in the future, no one can say, but for now, chill out.
"I've lived in a lot of different places," said Darwyn Fishinghawk, 18. "Provo has good people and a good atmosphere."
E-mail: tsotomayor@desnews.com
