Most Relaxed Cities in America 2021: Where Does Your City Rank?

Some places naturally breed stress, others are the epitome of easy living. Lawn care company LawnStarter wanted to figure out which Americans follow a more peaceful way of life by determining the most—and least—relaxed cities in the US, and it analyzed an enormous amount of data to do so.

The cities were ranked based on 57 criteria broken up into seven categories: mental health, physical health, financial health, work environment, physical environment, social environment, and entertainment. The results—which can be viewed in full here—show some clear patterns, like how several of the most relaxed towns are in California and several of the least relaxed towns are inland.

The 10 Most Relaxed Cities

10. Honolulu, Hawaii
9. Fullerton, California
8. Fort Collins, Colorado
7. Garden Grove, California
6. Naperville, Illinois
5. Seattle, Washington
4. Bellevue, Washington
3. San Francisco, California
2. Arlington, Virginia
1. Sunnyvale, California
 

The 10 Most Stressed Cities

10. Augusta, Georgia
9. St. Louis, Missouri
8. Little Rock, Arkansas
7. Cleveland, Ohio
6. Chattanooga, Tennessee
5. Clarksville, Tennessee
4. Shreveport, Louisiana
3. Detroit, Michigan
2. Memphis, Tennessee
1. Kansas City, Kansas

When you break things down by category, the results get more interesting. For example, residents of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, report the fewest poor mental health days, whereas residents of Philadelphia seem to have the most days where their mental health suffers. People in Fort Collins, Colorado, get the best sleep, and people in Detroit get the worst. Workers in Eugene, Oregon, report the shortest workdays; workers in Midland, Texas, report the longest.

The data is endless—to see where your hometown falls, review the full study on LawnStarter’s website.