Stress Test

Movoto, the real estate website, has published a piece listing states by stress levels.  Their quasi-scientific report is based on criteria such as:

• median income
• income percentage spent on housing
• commuting time
• unemployment rate

Texas, according to their figures, came in at number 11, and leads the nation in the percentage of uninsured.  They don’t specify what kind of insurance Texans are going without – health, auto liability, or what – but since it is a real estate website, maybe it’s homeowners.

Their latest list carries this to the next step, listing stress levels by zip code.  According to this list, 77032 is the most stressful zip code in Texas, and the eighth worst in the USA.Movoto says that residents of this zip suffer from 22% unemployment, and 42% live below the poverty level. 

That may be true, but if you’re familiar with the area, you know that there just aren’t many people living there.  The area, which borders the west side of Bush Intercontinental airport, is almost entirely warehousing and industry, with only a couple of small residential areas.

Of course, right in the middle of 77032 you’ll find the Houston Police Academy.  Not sure how that affects the stress level, but it’s something to think about.