These Are The 10 Most Stressed Out Places In Kansas

You know that tight feeling in your chest when you have to pay the rent at the end of each month and it’s a bit more than you’d like? That’s stress.

And there are certain places in Kansas that know that feeling in their chest a little too intimately. These are the places where keeping up with the Joneses takes a back a seat to other forms of stress.

There are things like dealing with ever-longer commutes, working longer and longer hours, and just trying to find a job. But which places in Kansas take being stressed to the next level?

It turns out the good people of Liberal have earned the dubious distinction of being the most stressed out place in Kansas. The city tops the 10 most stressed out places in the Sunflower State:

1. Liberal
2. Dodge City
3. Great Bend
4. Mission
5. Eudora
6. Wichita
7. Haysville
8. Augusta
9. Garden City
10. Junction City

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

How We Measured Stress In Kansas (Without Stressing Out)

In order to measure stress, we selected a set of six criteria that reflect root causes for most people and used them to look at the 91 places in Kansas with a population over 3,000, according to the 2013 American Community Survey:

1. Percentage of population with a long commute (over 20 minutes)
2. Unemployment Rate
3. Hours worked
4. Population density
5. Percentage of income spent on rent
6. 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 2009-2013.

We ranked each place from 1 to 91 for the six individual criteria. These ranks were then averaged into Stress Score, the lowest of which was the most stressed out place in Kansas.

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 91 places we analyzed.

1. Liberal

Population: 20,633
Unemployment Rate: 11.4%
No Health Insurance: 23.97%

Liberal, the county seat of Seward County, has let that heavy responsibility rock its core to the point where it ranks as the most stressed place in Kansas.

In a more measurable sense, Liberal’s stress originates from having the 6th highest unemployment rate in Kansas and the second highest population of uninsured people.

Basically, the town has to worry about getting sick while looking for a job, and that’ll turn your hair grey very quickly.

2. Dodge City

Population: 27,639
Unemployment Rate: 7.12%
No Health Insurance: 20.53%

Will Ferrel’s blood pressure might rise at the thought of driving a Dodge Stratus, but Dodge City’s blood pressure is constantly high — the city ranks as the second mot stressed out place in the Sunflower State.

The city has the fifth highest percentage of uninsured households and commute times in the top 20% of places in Kansas. To top it off, about a quarter of the households spend over the recommended amount of their income on rent each month.

Sitting in your car, on the way to your division manager job, thinking about paying too much for rent is a sure fire way to be overly stressed out.

3. Great Bend

Population: 15,929
Unemployment Rate: 9.55%
No Health Insurance: 21.58%

Much like the Arkansas River, life rushes by in Great Bend to the tune of being the third most stressed place in Kansas.

The city is basically a slightly less stressed version of Liberal. It has the third most uninsured households per capita and the 14th highest unemployment rate.

The population density of Great Bend saves it from being the most stressed place in Kansas, so you can rest a little easy knowing that at least your neighbors can’t see the stress on your face.

4. Mission

Population: 9,429
Unemployment Rate: 9.19%
No Health Insurance: 14.22%

The inflatable dragons at the Battle of the Brisket mask the underlying stress battle faced by the people of Mission on a daily basis, the 4th most stressed place in Kansas.

And the main cause of stress of Mission? The insane population density (2nd highest in Kansas).

The bright side of everyone knowing your business? Relatively short commute times. So I guess you win some and lose some.

5. Eudora

Population: 5,974
Unemployment Rate: 8.79%
No Health Insurance: 13.93%

Eudora may be the smallest place on our list, but it still packs one heck of a stressed out punch — it places as the 5th most stressed in the Jayhawk State.

As you can see by the statue of Pascal Fish and his daughter Eudora, you need to hold on for the sake of your sanity in Eudora. Why is that? You’re probably working too much as Eudora ranks in the top 15% of places in Kansas when it comes to average hours worked per week.

6. Wichita

Population: 383,703
Unemployment Rate: 9.51%
No Health Insurance: 16.00%

In stark contrast to Eudora, the biggest city in Kansas won’t save you from stressing out either — Wichita ranks as the 6th most stressed place in Kansas.

And Wichita has one main reason for stressing the heck out, it has the highest percentage of income spent on rent of any place in Kansas. A staggering 45 percent of people spend over the recommended amount of their income on rent each month.

When you’re that worried about paying for a roof over your head, it doesn’t leave a lot of time (or money) to have enjoy the little things in life.

7. Haysville

Population: 10,973
Unemployment Rate: 8.62%
No Health Insurance: 13.73%

Life isn’t totally peachy in the “Peach Capital of Kansas”. Haysville ranks as the 7th most stressed out place in the Sunflower State.

Population density takes the sweetness out of this Wichita suburb as it ranks as the 12th most densely packed place in the state. So you’ll be all up in your neighbors business relative to most other places in Kansas.

8. Augusta

Population: 9,238
Unemployment Rate: 12.45%
No Health Insurance: 13.09%

Even getting an ice cream at Miller’s wont take the sting off of your level of stress in Augusta — it ranks as the 8th most stressed out place in Kansas.

And there’s a reason people are stressed, this city has the 4th highest unemployment rate in Kansas. Add to that a population density in the top 20% of places, and it’s even more stressful when everyone knows you’re looking for work.

9. Garden City

Population: 26,768
Unemployment Rate: 3.73%
No Health Insurance: 17.43%

Garden City suffers from garden variety stress and proves that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side as it ranks as the 9th most stressed place in the Sunflower State.

The city has the 5th highest population density in Kansas, and an uninsured percentage that ranks in the top 15% of the state.

But at least you can cool off in the “Big Pool” when life in the garden gets too overwhelming.

10. Junction City

Population: 24,147
Unemployment Rate: 7.8%
No Health Insurance: 13.25%

And rounding out the top ten most stressed out places in Kansas is Junction City.

The intersection of working too much (2nd most in Kansas) and the amount spent on rent (14th highest) is the cause of stress in Junction City.

However, the city has some of the shortest commutes in Kansas. So at least you don’t have to stress out about getting to the job you’re probably working too many hours at.

Most Stressed Places In Kansas Data

See all the data here.

City	Population	Stressed Score	Rank
Liberal	20,633	20.33	1
Dodge City	27,639	21.5	2
Great Bend	15,929	21.67	3
Mission	9,429	23.17	4
Eudora	5,974	25.83	5
Wichita	383,703	30	6
Haysville	10,973	30.33	7
Augusta	9,238	31.67	8
Garden City	26,768	31.83	9
Junction City	24,147	32.17	10
Kansas City	146,581	32.33	11
Ulysses	6,250	32.67	12
Merriam	11,147	33.33	13
Lyons	3,748	33.5	14
Topeka	127,625	35.83	15
Independence	9,347	36	16
Fort Riley Cdp, Kansas	8,012	36.33	17
Emporia	24,895	37.17	18
Roeland Park	6,803	37.67	19
Hugoton	4,109	38.17	20
Coffeyville	10,138	39	21
Hutchinson	42,020	39.67	22
Atchison	10,968	39.83	23
Iola	5,702	40.5	24
Salina	47,726	40.67	25
Gardner	19,674	40.83	26
Leawood	32,285	41.83	27
Olathe	128,050	41.83	27
Osawatomie	4,421	42	29
Chanute	9,175	42	29
Prairie Village	21,678	42.17	31
Kingman	3,174	42.33	32
Arkansas City	12,352	42.33	32
Larned	4,055	42.5	34
Pittsburg	20,282	42.67	35
Wamego	4,455	43	36
Leavenworth	35,586	43.67	37
Lawrence	88,921	43.67	37
Goodland	4,677	44	39
Concordia	5,330	44	39
Fairway	3,924	44.17	41
El Dorado	12,958	44.67	42
Lenexa	48,920	44.67	42
Wellington	8,077	44.83	44
Lansing	11,411	45.17	45
Scott City	3,746	45.33	46
Overland Park	176,520	45.33	46
Mcpherson	13,196	46	48
Derby	23,021	46	48
Columbus	3,273	46.17	50
Baxter Springs	4,195	47.17	51
Park City	6,985	47.83	52
Abilene	6,802	48.33	53
Newton	19,134	48.33	53
Shawnee	62,939	48.5	55
Edwardsville	4,351	48.83	56
Parsons	10,381	49.33	57
Ottawa	12,575	49.5	58
Hiawatha	3,160	50	59
Fort Scott	8,003	50	59
Tonganoxie	4,788	50.17	61
Winfield	12,314	50.83	62
Bonner Springs	7,352	51.33	63
Ellsworth	3,099	51.67	64
Hays	20,766	51.83	65
Pratt	6,889	52.33	66
Baldwin City	4,514	52.5	67
Galena	3,049	53	68
Goddard	4,439	54.33	69
Marysville	3,289	54.5	70
Colby	5,382	54.5	70
Manhattan	54,082	55	72
Spring Hill	5,445	55.67	73
Rose Hill	3,987	55.83	74
Louisburg	4,276	56	75
Holton	3,309	56.17	76
Andover	11,871	56.17	76
Lindsborg	3,461	56.67	78
Paola	5,575	57.17	79
Garnett	3,365	57.33	80
Clay Center	4,308	57.5	81
Russell	4,534	58.5	82
Basehor	4,704	58.5	82
Bel Aire	6,803	58.83	84
Frontenac	3,428	59.83	85
Beloit	3,838	59.83	85
Hesston	3,596	62.83	87
Mulvane	6,058	65.5	88
Valley Center	6,646	65.67	89
Maize	3,806	68	90
De Soto	5,789	73.5	91