The 10 Saddest Cities in America...

As you become more clear about who you really are, you'll be better able to decide what is best for you - the first time around...

Talking to my mom is always entertaining and enlightening.  She somehow always knows the news before we do and she manages to update both Arvid and I constantly.  She is always finding tidbits of news for Arvid regarding some event in Norway or something she knows he is or may be interested in.

Yesterday as we were relaxing I called my mom and after talking for a while she asked me if I read the news about the 10 saddest cities.  I had not so she goes on to inform me that of the 10 cities, Florida made 3 of those in the top 10.

It seems even with all the sunshine the people in Florida, according to the article are really not happy.  Seems like they are depressed and highly suicidal.

It seems like only yesterday Florida was considered the happiest place in America. A bounty of sun, no state income tax, 700 miles of beaches, Disney World and more new condominiums than speculators could flip. It’s no wonder that just five years ago, one thousand new residents arrived each day. But this week, Men’s Health magazine tells us the Sunshine State is arguably the saddest place in America.

Florida’s five largest cities landed among the magazine’s top 20 “Frown Towns” – and three of them, St. Petersburg (America’s saddest city, according to Men’s Health), Tampa (number four) and Miami (number eight) make the top 10.  Jacksonville came in at number 13 and Orlando at number nineteen.

Here is the breakdown according to the article:  Saddest Cities Article

Miami


There are three Florida cities in the top 10 saddest list, which makes us wonder: Is Florida just an awful place to live? Or do sad people flock there seeking warmth, sun, and a mood boost? (Maybe it’s just the humidity.) We’re still not sure. We do know that Miami has the fifth-worst unemployment rate among our 100 cities, and the third-highest use of antidepressants. The latter stat has a silver lining: At least residents are seeking help. 

Tampa


Tampa’s the Rodney Dangerfield of cities: It gets no respect. And residents are clearly feeling it. It ranks poorly in terms of the number people feeling down all or most of the time, and its suicide rate is 13th highest among our major cities. Also, unemployment is nearly 11 percent, way above the national average. At least the Bucs are having a good year! Okay, they’re not. Just trying to cheer you up, Tampa.

If you want record-setting sunshine, St. Petersburg is your city—it once soaked up a Guinness-certified 768 straight days of rays. But there's an asterisk: The people of St. Pete also have the darkest clouds hanging over their heads. We put America on the therapist's couch and discovered that not only is St. Petersburg our Saddest City, but Florida in general seems to be a depressing place to live.

Says the author of the article, we aren't shrinks, so our diagnosis is more statistical than psychological. To come up with our rankings, we calculated the following:
•suicide rates (CDC)
•unemployment rates (Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of June 2011)
•percentage of households that use antidepressants
•the number of people who report feeling the blues all or most of the time


perfect temperature in the winter..

 Maybe it’s better to ask the tens of thousands of people who’ve been leaving the state in recent years. Florida actually saw a net population loss of 58,000 in 2009, the first for the state since World War II, and here’s what many of them have been telling us: the peninsula didn’t turn out to be the paradise they’d been promised. The ever-widening gap between what people earn in Florida, a state that continues to rely on low-wage industries like tourism, and what it costs to live there – there actually is a state income tax in Florida, and it’s called homeowner’s insurance – is just one factor clouding the sunshine. Being able to wear flip-flops in January just doesn’t seem to offset lousy government, nonexistent public transit and underachieving schools anymore.

All I can say it that for us it is ideal weather in the winter.  I do believe that people are nicer, friendlier, more trustworthy in many other States when compared to Florida, but weather wise it can't be beat during the winter, and for us that is enough.  For us the choice is easy...

Life is the sum of all your choices...

until next time..