New York City just landed at the top of a new global ranking for stress, according to a study from Remitly. In simple terms, the report says life in New York piles on more everyday pressure than in any other major city the company looked at.
Remitly compared over 170 cities worldwide. Instead of asking people how they feel, the company measured things that usually cause stress in daily life.
Five areas went into the score:
- Cost of living
- How hard it is to get around the city
- Crime rates and public safety
- Pollution levels and air quality
- Access to health care services
Each city got a score in every category, and then Remitly rolled that into one overall number on a 10-point scale.
New York scored 7.56, the highest on the list. The biggest reason was cost. The study points to very high prices for basics, especially housing, plus the general day-to-day expenses of living in the city. Remitly treats that constant financial pressure as the main stress engine for New Yorkers.
Commuting came next. The report highlights long travel times, big traffic slowdowns, and crowded public transit. When getting to work or running errands eats a large chunk of the day, stress naturally climbs.
View this post on Instagram
Safety also played a noticeable role. Remitly used standard crime and public safety data and says those numbers, along with broader safety concerns, pushed the final score higher.
Some areas softened the blow. New York ranked better for air quality and access to health care than for the other categories. Those stronger results helped pull the total down a bit, though not enough to move the city out of first place.
Behind New York, the next most stressed cities were Dublin and Mexico City. Manila and London followed. The rest of the top ten included Milan, Athens, Sao Paulo, Turin, and Kolkata, each showing a different mix of cost pressure, congestion, or safety strain.
On the low stress end, Eindhoven in the Netherlands ranked as the least stressed city, with a score of 2.34. Remitly links that to shorter commutes, lower crime, cleaner air, and strong health care access.
The same source is saying the list shows how hard everyday life can feel in a city. A higher score means people usually spend more money, lose more time getting around, and stay more on edge.
For New York, that matches what many people talk about: an exciting city, but prices, commuting, and safety worries can wear you out.
New York also leads the country in the number of homeless people.
