Overview
- A WalletHub index that compared more than 180 cities using 39 metrics across work, financial, family and health categories placed Baltimore second nationally, behind Detroit.
- Baltimore ranked highest of all cities on the study's work-related stress measure, reflecting long hours and job pressures in the local labor market.
- Housing affordability is a major driver of stress in the city, with WalletHub reporting average annual rent for a two-bedroom at nearly 38% of median household income, the third highest share nationwide.
- The report also cites high separation and divorce rates, heavy traffic congestion and elevated food insecurity as additional contributors to Baltimore’s stress score, and WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo linked these factors to local crime, weak economy, public-health shortfalls and strained transportation.
- WalletHub’s cross-sectional ranking highlights pressures that could affect residents’ health and shape policy debates about housing, work conditions and city services while not proving direct causation.