Forbes stacked the deck in its methodology to name Chicago the most stressful city.
http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20090924.php
Drop in the median home price was included but not foreclosure rates? I don’t care if my home’s value is depressed as long as I can stay in it. Also, Forbes looked at value drops over the past year, when declines started to hit Chicago but after the damage was done in Florida and Calif.
Those “stress-free” states got a bonus when Forbes counted the number of sunny days as a major factor. A little sunlight is great but Phoenix gets 100-degree days in April, and several cities out west are facing severe water shortages. Sunny Florida is miserably humid and with no winter frost to kill off bugs they have cockroaches you can saddle up and ride.
Southern Cal gets wildfires, earthquakes and mudslides. Florida gets hurricanes. Give me a losing baseball team and a string of jailed governors any day.