Feeling Blue? Magazine Grades Cities On Depression (Texas Cities Found To Be Happiest)

Local 6 (Florida) ^ | March 9, 2005

[Stoat]

Feeling Blue? Magazine Grades Cities On Depression

Texas Cities Found To Be Happiest

 

POSTED: 12:15 pm EST March 9, 2005

 

Even before the Super Bowl, Philadelphia was a depressed town. The city of brotherly love comes in last in Men's Health's rankings of 101 cities on depression.

Philly is joined at the bottom by Detroit, St. Louis and St. Petersburg and Tampa, Fla., according to a news release. People are much more jolly in Texas. Laredo tops the list, one of four cities earning an "A+" from the magazine. The other least depressed cities include El Paso and Corpus Christi, Texas, and Jersey City, N.J.

Criteria for the rankings included information on antidepressant sales from NDC Health, suicide rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and information from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The rankings are published in the April issue of Men's Health, which will be on newsstands March 15.

[Stoat]

local6.com - Health - List Of Depressed Cities

List Of Depressed Cities

1. Laredo, TX -- A+

  2. El Paso, TX -- A+

  3. Jersey City, NJ -- A+

  4. Corpus Christi, TX -- A+

  5. Baton Rouge, LA -- A

  6. Honolulu, HI -- A-

  7. Fresno, CA -- A-

  8. San Jose, CA -- A-

  9. Lincoln, NE -- B+

  10. Bakersfield, CA -- B+

  11. Buffalo, NY -- B+

  12. Anchorage, AK -- B+

  13. Stockton, CA -- B+

  14. Shreveport, LA -- B+

  15. (tie) Madison, WI -- B

  15. (tie) Montgomery, AL -- B

  15. (tie) Des Moines, IA -- B

  18. Wichita, KS -- B

  19. (tie) Sacramento, CA -- B

  19. (tie) Omaha, NE -- B

  21. Memphis, TN -- B

  22. New Orleans, LA -- B

  23. (tie) Raleigh, NC -- B-

  23. (tie) Fort Wayne, IN -- B-

  25. (tie) Fremont, CA -- B-

  25. (tie) Oakland, CA -- B-

  27. Modesto, CA -- B-

  28. Tacoma, WA -- B-

  29. Toledo, OH -- B-

  30. Boise, ID -- B-

  31. Lubbock, TX -- C+

  32. Little Rock, AR -- C+

  33. Spokane, WA -- C+

  34. Grand Rapids, MI -- C+

  35. San Antonio, TX -- C+

  36. (tie) Newark, NJ -- C+

  36. (tie) Akron, OH -- C+

  36. (tie) Austin, TX -- C+

  39. Miami, FL -- C+

  40. Richmond, VA -- C+

  41. Lexington, KY -- C+

  42. Jacksonville, FL -- C+

  43. Rochester, NY -- C+

  44. San Diego, CA -- C

  45. Durham, NC -- C

  46. Albuquerque, NM -- C

  47. Charlotte, NC -- C

  48. Tulsa, OK -- C

  49. Providence, RI -- C

  50. Greensboro, NC -- C

  51. Colorado Springs, CO -- C

  52. Chesapeake, VA -- C

  53. (tie) Tucson, AZ -- C

  53. (tie) Birmingham, AL -- C

  53. (tie) Oklahoma City, OK -- C

  53. (tie) Columbus, OH -- C

  57. Norfolk, VA -- C-

  58. (tie) Arlington, TX -- C-

  58. (tie) Fort Worth, TX -- C-

  58. (tie) Riverside, CA -- C-

  61. Plano, TX -- C-

  62. (tie) Baltimore, MD -- C-

  62. (tie) San Francisco, CA -- C-

  62. (tie) Louisville, KY -- C-

  65. Virginia Beach, VA -- C-

  66. Orlando, FL -- D+

  67. Las Vegas, NV -- D+

  68. Washington, D.C. -- D+

  69. Cincinnati, OH -- D+

  70. Denver, CO -- D+

  71. (tie) Boston, MA -- D

  71. (tie) St. Paul, MN -- D

  71. (tie) Seattle, WA -- D

  74. Chicago, IL -- D

  75. Aurora, CO -- D

  76. Milwaukee, WI -- D

  77. Houston, TX -- D

  78. Minneapolis, MN -- D

  79. (tie) Dallas, TX -- D

  79. (tie) Garland, TX -- D

  81. Anaheim, CA -- D

  82. Portland, OR -- D

  83. (tie) Long Beach, CA -- D

  83. (tie) Los Angeles, CA -- D

  83. (tie) Nashville, TN -- D

  86. (tie) Yonkers, NY -- D

  86. (tie) Pittsburgh, PA -- D

  86. (tie) Kansas City, MO -- D

  89. Atlanta, GA -- D

  90. Salt Lake City, UT -- D-

  91. New York, NY -- D-

  92. Cleveland, OH -- F

  93. (tie) Mesa, AZ -- F

  93. (tie) Phoenix, AZ -- F

  93. (tie) Scottsdale, AZ -- F

  96. Indianapolis, IN -- F

  97. Tampa, FL -- F

  98. St. Louis, MO -- F

  99. St. Petersburg, FL -- F

  100. Detroit, MI -- F

  101. Philadelphia, PA -- F

 Source: Men's Health

[Rodney King]

Jersey City? What a dump. I get depressed just thinking about the place.

[nuconvert]

Lol

[Paleo Conservative]

Happy Ping!

[GSlob]

Well, at the top should be maniacal places, and the bottom - depressed ones, and the healthier (balanced?) ones in the middle.

[nhoward14]

The least depressed city in the US is a Mexico border town? Coincidence?

[Natchez Hawk]

Well, I guess 'Blue Hawaii' it is.

[bboop]

Ha! Texas has pretty girls, cowboys, CCWs, Second Amendment rights, sun and Bush. What's not to love?

[Muleteam1]

Laredo and El Paso may have low suicide rates, but I doubt the researchers had accurate information on the amount of anti-depressants in these two towns that came from the unregulated pharmacias across the border.

Muleteam1

[SpaceBar]

"information on antidepressant sales from NDC Health, suicide rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and information from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System"

The above snippet is far more worthy of conversation than the results.

[HostileTerritory]

Interesting methodology--base it on money spent on anti-depressants, so the winners are the poorest slum-cities in the country where few people have the money or inclination to take care of mental health. I don't think Laredo is really that "happy."

[HostileTerritory]

Very interesting point.

[MeekOneGOP]

Happy (Red Texas) bump!

[Stoat]

....Texas has pretty girls....

<perk>

[Arkie2]

If I understand right, all these cities rated as amomg the most depressed so even though some cities received an A in these ratings that means they're depressing cities but just not as bad as the others?

[Muleteam1]

>>so the winners are the poorest slum-cities in the country where few people have the money or inclination to take care of mental health.<<

Your comment made me think twice about my comment. The low income in El Paso and Laredo may cancel out my factor of unaccounted cheap drugs.

Muleteam1

[Happy2BMe]

Texas is a great state. I really like it. There's a couple of good Texans down there 2.

[politicalwit]

"What's not to love?"

How about a potential employer payroll tax?

[CzarNicky]

Alright 92nd!

[cajungirl]

Baton Rouge and A,,,in a pigs eye. We are just all drinking too much to buy antidepressants.

I don't believe these ratings a bit.

[George Stupidnopolis]

Not surprisingly, an awful lot of the most depressed places are full of Kerry voters...blue on the famous map. It only makes sense. Blue aresa are full of liberals, who are humor-impaired, whose unrealistic view of how the world should be (aka: a nanny state) is shot down time and again. Thus they off themselves with gusto and spend much of the day bellying up to the local Xanax bar

[Our man in washington]

According to one study, Native Americans have the highest suicide rates. White non-hispanics are next. The next highest group is blacks, but their suicide rate is much lower than whites. Next is hispanics, and Asian/pacific islanders are dead last.

http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/suicideprevention/diverse.asp

I have a theory as to why this is. When I ask white people "where does your family live?", I'll get answers like "Well, my brother is in Chicago, and my parents live in New Jersey, and my grandparents moved to in Florida."

When I ask blacks or hispanics, they'll often answer "Oh, they all live around here" or something like "they all live in Brooklyn. I'm the only one that moved away, but I'd like to move back."

[Jorge]

I don't get how Philly rates the worst. Center city Philly was one of the funnest cities I partied in during my 20's. That was nearly 30 years ago though.

I can think of lot's of cities I find more depressing than Philly. Camden NJ. Trenton NJ. Chester PA. I find most of New York ugly, dreary, run-down and depressing.
Almost all the cities south of Virginia and north of Florida are boring as hell.

[MeekOneGOP]

:^D

[FLAMING DEATH]

To me, any city with more than 20,000 people is a depressing city.

[bboop]

We visited Philadelphia several years ago on an American History tour (of our own making). Philadelphia was RANK. We stayed downtown in a B&B, the partying did not stop all night long. And it was gross. Holy Water needed. We left days early.

[TX Bluebonnet]

I had a friend once who took lithium for depression. She said El Paso has a low depression rate because El Paso water has trace elements of lithium in it, according to her shrink.

[sionnsar]

Seattle's only 71? Geez -- people regularly move away from here because they can't face another dark, dank, dismal Seattle winter. We lost some great neighbors a couple years back for that reason. (And that's even before you get into corrupt leftist Seattle politics.)

[since1868]

Lithium is not a anti-depressant.

[jocon307]

"Jersey City, N.J."

The only POSSIBLE explanation is that people are too STUPID to be depressed there.

[Stoat]

If I understand right, all these cities rated as amomg the most depressed so even though some cities received an A in these ratings that means they're depressing cities but just not as bad as the others?

Because you'll find clinical depression in varying degrees pretty much anyplace you go, my guess is that what the authors of this survey did in order to make the study manageable was to first take the top 101 US cities by population and then extract the statistical data from those cities.  Just because a city or town isn't listed here doesn't mean that there's no instance of clinical depression there, only that it wasn't included in the survey due to population limitations or whatever initial sorting criteria they used.

[Stoat]

Seattle's only 71? Geez -- people regularly move away from here because they can't face another dark, dank, dismal Seattle winter. We lost some great neighbors a couple years back for that reason. (And that's even before you get into corrupt leftist Seattle politics.)

Agreed...I would have expected Seattle to rate much lower than it did.  My guess is that one reason for this is precisely what you mention, which is something I've noticed here too.  People from all over the US read glowing magazine accounts of how Seattle is such a 'wonderful, livable city' and so people move here based upon that.  After a few years of subjecting themselves to the 11 months of overcast and drizzle and one month of sun out of each year they get fed up with it and move back to Phoenix.  Therefore, they don't stay long enough to become truly clinically depressed and get into the medical treatments for it....they simply leave and so they don't become part of a study like this.

[RoseofTexas]

I do have to say though, even though the majority of folk here in El Paso, are RATS with a capital R, folk here are VERY friendly and happy. Must be all the fumes flowing over the Rio Grande from Juarez Mexico being inhaled by El Pasoans clouding their minds! It's like sniffing spray from a can and getting high. They're probably brain dead from sniffing all the car fumes from the 2million cars and smoke pollution caused by burning car tires and trash there...JUST KIDDING ..LOL :)

[FreedomCalls]

Ha! Texas has pretty girls, cowboys, CCWs, Second Amendment rights, sun and Bush. What's not to love?

Fireants, grackles, and hailstorms.

[hispanarepublicana]

Lubbock is a c+? This is the city that considered buying a billboard in Austin at hwy 183 and 290 stating: "Today in Lubbock it's 85 degrees with 10% humidity. Your friend that lives there got to work in 15 minutes this morning. Wouldn't you rather be in Lubbock ?"
Today it was 75 degrees with no wind, no humidity and clear skys....lots of Republicans too...

[clamper1797]

Stockton is a B ???? Stockton is a pit filled with gang members

[hispanarepublicana]

San Antonio is just a c+? Just the margaritas and food alone ought to bump it to a B!

[Stoat]

....grackles....

Not knowing what a 'grackle' is, I looked it up and I'll post it here in case the term is unfamiliar to others:

Web WordNet 2.0

Overview for "grackle"

 

---

The noun "grackle" has 2 senses in WordNet.

1. hill myna, Indian grackle, grackle, Gracula religiosa -- (glossy black Asiatic starling often taught to mimic speech)
2. grackle, crow blackbird -- (long-tailed American blackbird having iridescent black plumage)

I'm guessing that you're citing these as a negative because they exist in such numbers that they've become pests in Texas?

 

[sweetliberty]

"To me, any city with more than 20,000 people is a depressing city."

I gotta agree with you there...and that's pushing it. I live in a town of 11,000, and it feels a bit overcrowded at times.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Jersey City and *Yonkers* rated higher than NYC??? WTF?!

[Jorge]

the partying did not stop all night long. And it was gross.

You partied all night long and it was gross?

What kind of party did you go to?

[Stoat]

Lubbock is a c+? This is the city that considered buying a billboard in Austin at hwy 183 and 290 stating: "Today in Lubbock it's 85 degrees with 10% humidity. Your friend that lives there got to work in 15 minutes this morning. Wouldn't you rather be in Lubbock ?"
Today it was 75 degrees with no wind, no humidity and clear skys....lots of Republicans too...

and

San Antonio is just a c+? Just the margaritas and food alone ought to bump it to a B!

Considering your comments as well as post # 8, I'm thinking that Texas must be an awfully nice place to live (I'm worried about the fire ants and grackles mentioned by others though)

I was born in Seattle and have lived here most of my life, and I am so completely unhappy here I can hardly express it....our state and city governments are utterly corrupt and hard-Left, cars with pro-Bush bumper stickers are routinely vandalized, and the Leftist mentality permeates much of the state like a cancer.  "sigh"

One of the few things that make life here livable are the GREAT Freepers who are about the only sane ones around.....

[Stoat]

Stockton is a B ???? Stockton is a pit filled with gang members

Perhaps the fear and lowered quality of life as a result of the gangs is something that longtime residents have simply come to accept and have gotten used to, and so it doesn't manifest itself as clinical depression?  Perhaps there are other aspects of the city that create a balance?  I haven't been to Stockton so I'm only guessing.

Curiously, Detroit is near the bottom of the list, and although I haven't been to Detroit either I've heard that it's also overrun with gangs. .....

[unixfox]

They're just happy to be here. Being a FREE country and all.

[hispanarepublicana]

In my area of Texas (bottom of the Panhandle) fireants are more rare than liberals. There's more to Texas than Austin and the overrated Hill Country. As for the grackles, buy a bb gun and a house with a private backyard.

[Clemenza]

Filthadelphia is merely Newark, NJ with more historical monuments.

[unixfox]

Today it was 75 degrees with no wind, no humidity and clear skys....lots of Republicans too...

I remember that day, years ago. It happened once in Midland too.

[radiohead]

I have a question. I've been in Seattle 4 years now. I can take the cloudiness. I can take the rain. I welcome it.

What I can't take is the summer sun. The unrelenting, clear, cloudless days. I find no joy or comfort in them at all.

Is it possible to have reverse SAD? My son and I both seem to have this problem. I truly don't even want to leave the house when it is a bright day. This was never a problem when I lived on the east coast, where I really think the light was a bit dimmer than it is out here, but maybe that's just the comparison between the usual greyness and the summer.

Do other Seattlites have a problem w/the sun?

[FreedomCalls]

I'm guessing that you're citing these as a negative because they exist in such numbers that they've become pests in Texas?

That's it.

[Clemenza]

Despite the fact that there has been nothing but sunshine here for the past three months, while Phoenix and LA get heavy rains, I will be out of here (Seattle) as soon as I get a good job offer elsewhere.