Houston by the numbers with Susan Saurage-Altenloh

Stress, Optimism and Well-being



Turns out, as a state, Texas stress levels fall right in the middle of the herd. However, according to Gallup’s Well-being Index, Texas is #7 in percentage of respondents in this state who say they are “thriving.” Texas follows, Hawaii (#1), Alaska, Wyoming, Maryland, North Dakota and Georgia (in that order). Least likely to be thriving: West Virginia, followed by Kentucky and Ohio.

Another way to review how we feel about ourselves is found in Gallup’s Healthways Data, which determines, among other things, the percent of respondents who say the city or area where they reside is getting better as a place to live. Two-thirds (65 percent) of Texas respondents made this optimistic claim, securing a #3 position for the state, preceded only by Utah and South Dakota.

Finally, we explored Forbes’ last rating of “most stressful cities” based on a review of various elements measured for the 40 largest cities in the U.S. As a result, Houston ranks #3 as a stressful city, right after Los Angeles. Las Vegas is the country’s most stressful city.

Forbes writer Francesca Levy expands on reasons for Houston’s stress level in the Forbes article:

The economy in Houston, Texas, is relatively healthy–unemployment is below the national average–but prosperity may come at a price. Houstonians work the longest hours of any city we ranked; an average of 41.2 hours per week.

Furthermore, that toil isn’t always rewarded with a solid insurance package–the city also has the highest percentage of people without any type of health care, at 25%. Grueling work hours can add to anxiety and a lack of health care means that stress-related illnesses will go untreated.

In many cities, stress is the price locals pay for other advantages. In Houston, for example, workers may burn the midnight oil, but they are rewarded for it with median household incomes of $54,811 annually, 4.8% higher than the national average, according to the U.S. Census.

So, are you stressed or optimistic about the remainder of 2011? Tell us what drives your anticipation about Houston over the next five months.

Susan Saurage-Altenloh

5 Responses

  1. Confidendtial in H Town says:

    I just left a job I loved, that was close to home, for the opportunity to get to a new place, and a fresh start…because the stress level was too much to take. 55 hour weeks for a couple years, hundreds of emails and increasing the longer I was known there, the same for phone calls and voice mails, and no back up to my role. So it was on me. Take a vacation? Not really, because when i was gone, it just piled up. So 5 days away means 10 days to catch up.

    I think this is common. We are a hard working society, a hard working generation (I am Xer), but it was time to just get it off my back and start again. And maybe I will encounter the same in my next role as it is my specialty, BUT, I will get a repriese as I begin. The change is what I had.

    I think it is very common in Houston, we are succesful, but at a price.

  2. Confidential in H Town says:

    oh, and i am a bad speller. but not why i left…

  3. SL says:


    Things won’t get much better until we get someone qualified to run a country in the White House. Right now we have no leadership, just speeches and the blame game.

  4. HappyMom says:

    I’m really shocked they didn’t mention Houston’s awful traffic as adding a couple hours a day on to that ‘longest work week in the country’ figure. That is a huge driver of stress in this city.

  5. marvin says:

    I think another thing that adds to stress here in Houston is the fact that so many people are forced to drive such long distances to and from work everyday. Driving is a very stressful and dangerous activity. It is probably the most dangerous thing we do, day in and day out. Since Houston lacks a decent public transportation system for a city of its size, people are forced to drive and they often drive very long distances. The only place that is worse than Houston is probably LA, which is probably a part of the reason they are ranked as more stressed than Houston.

    Living in the North East, I took public transportation everywhere. Being able to take a train to and from work makes a huge difference in how one feels day in and day out.