Where are America’s most stressful places?

Sunshine: Las Vegas and Phoenix soak up 85 percent of possible sunshine per year, leading the study group. Pittsburgh ranks as the gloomiest market at 45 percent. All figures come from the National Climatic Data Center and Weatherbase.

Robberies: San Jose has the lowest rate, 111.9 robberies per 100,000 residents, based on central-city records compiled in 2006 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cleveland occupies last place with 947.1 robberies per 100,000.

Murders: The level of danger is lowest in Austin, with 2.8 murders per 100,000. The worst central-city ratio belongs to Detroit, 47.3 murders per 100,000 residents as of 2006.

Unemployment rate: Salt Lake City is the positive extreme, with a jobless rate of only 2.6 percent. Detroit takes another hit, as the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that 7.2 percent of its workers are unemployed.

Income growth: New Orleans is this category's surprise winner, increasing its per capita income by 45.8 percent between 2000 and 2006, based on U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita drove thousands of poverty-stricken residents out of town in 2005, artificially inflating the market's income level. At the bottom is San Jose, with a virtually stagnant growth rate of 0.3 percent over six years.

Long-distance commuters: Traffic is exceptionally light in Buffalo, where only 6.5 percent of commuters hit the road for 45 minutes or more. New York City, at 31.0 percent, qualifies as the most congested market. (Figures for this and the next two categories come from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 American Community Survey.)

Families below the poverty level: The Washington market is the most affluent in the group, with just 4.7 percent of its residents living in poverty. Memphis has the worst poverty problem, 13.9 percent.

High mortgage payments: Few residents of Buffalo are bothered by enormous housing costs. Only 1.5 percent write checks for $3,000 or more per month. One-third of San Jose's residents (33.9 percent) spend at least that much, the nation's steepest ratio.

Deaths from circulatory-system diseases: Austin has the lowest number of deaths caused by heart failure, hypertension and stroke, a rate of 145.7 per 100,000 residents. The highest rate belongs to Pittsburgh, 441.4 deaths per 100,000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected these central-county statistics in 2004, the latest year for which figures are available.

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