Businessweek: Jacksonville #6 UNhappiest City in America

[stjr]

I don't think you will see this in the Chamber's literature:

Jacksonville, Fla.

Overall rank: 6
Depression rank: 2
Suicide rank: 9
Crime (property and violent) rank: 23
Divorce rate rank: 7
Cloudy days: 144
Unemployment rate (December 2008): 7.6%

*Editor's Note: BusinessWeek.com ranked 50 of the largest metros based on a variety of factors including depression rates, suicide rates, divorce rates, crime, unemployment, population loss, job loss, weather, and green space. The most heavily weighted factors were the depression, suicide, jobs (unemployment and job loss), and crime rates.  The depression rate is based on survey and aggregated insurance reporting information at time of discharge, doctor's office visits, and insurance process filings. The suicide rate is for 2004 and comes from The 2007 Big Cities Health Inventory‚Ã,,ù compiled by the National Assembly of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO). The crime risk indexes for property and crime used for the scoring were based on FBI crime reporting for the seven most-recent available years. Divorce rates and 2009 population change come from the U.S. Census. The number of cloudy days came from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.

Article at:  http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/feb2009/bw20090226_526384.htm

[chipwich]

I believe it.  With the lack of cultural and social things to do in this disjointed city of ours, it is no wonder people get depressed.  We are a pretty boring city.  We also do not have a very high concentration of high paying jobs and we have a relatively high crime rate.

There is much to be happy about in Jacksonville, but I can certainly see why many people are unhappy in this city. 

What could make our city happier?  Get rid of last call in downtown, bring higher paying jobs, work to create more vibrant meeting areas (downtown core).  Socially, Jacksonville is too conservative.  We are not a fun city.  It also seems that people get married and/or have kids way too early in this city, not giving young folks enough time or opportunity to experience freedom from responsibility (hence leading to future regret and possibly higher divorce rates).

Just my 2 cents.

[JaxNole]

Maybe it's because there aren't enough convenient, safe and viable mass transit options?  Or enough ground-level retail?

[copperfiend]

I think it all starts with education. This city is seriously lacking in that area.

[fatcat]

the city is so spread out. The down town is occupied by homeless and service caters to them. There is not much fun activity. But #2 in depression rate is still shocking.

[fsu813]

That list is a joke. There are great cities that EVERYONE would like to live on the list.

[tufsu1]

agreed...Portland at #1?

This list is obviously skewed by # of cloudy days....although I think the 144 estimate for Jax. may be too high.

overall, the list is useless!

[BridgeTroll]

I disagree... the list does great things for Businessweeks internet hits and advertising.

[fatcat]

portland is a nice city but it is also a city lack of excitement. There are actually medical study show more clouds make people depressed. I do not think the unhappiness of Jacksonville is the same unhappiness of Portland.

All the happy families are the same. Each unhappy family has unhappiness of its own.

[David]

I'm sorry but this list seems almost backwards. Aside from Seattle at the botton of the list and Detroit near the top, it seems the list of cities gets gets progressively less desirable as it goes from first to last.

Look at how beautiful the half of the cities on the list are, seriously.

now i'm depressed...

[jtwestside]

  Socially, Jacksonville is too conservative.  We are not a fun city.  It also seems that people get married and/or have kids way too early in this city, not giving young folks enough time or opportunity to experience freedom from responsibility (hence leading to future regret and possibly higher divorce rates).

Just my 2 cents.

While I think as a whole this list is crap ... you hit on something here I've been thinking for a long time. I don't want to seem like I'm attacking anyone’s views/values, but it does seem as if the conservative (i.e. Baptist) "no sex till you're married" pushes people to get married very young before they really know who they are. (also when I say "pushes" I mean that guys will do anything for sex, even get married, especially young guys) Then add to that ignorance about birth control and you end up with kids very young on top of that. It just seems like a cocktail for a miserable life.

I'm not saying that everyone who marries young or waits until marriage is miserable, I'm just saying that I didn't know what I wanted from like if I wanted kids or even who I was at 18-25 years old and that seems to be when they are getting hitched ant popping out kids like it's going out of style.

The other end of the spectrum seems to be the "hood rat/trailer trash" who has children out of wedlock at a very young age (16-19) and never finishes their education. This seems to be equally if not more miserable. However I'm not sure these folks are intelligent enough to be miserable in their situation. (this group describes most of my extended family FWIW)

[Johnny]

My list...

St. Louis
Philadelphia
Detroit
Pittsburgh
Seattle
Washington, DC
Atlanta
The entire state of Alabama
The entire state of Mississippi
The entire state of Louisiana
Little Rock
Minneapolis
Charlotte
etc....
etc...
etc...

[Traveller]

All I know is watching the Jags' 4th quarter defense this season certainly was depressing.

[Basstacular]

Sounds pretty spot on to me.  Who needs beautiful beaches, great off-shore fishing, a plethora of world class golf courses, beautiful weather, entertaining nightlife (I think we do have it), beautiful women in tight clothes.  I am struggling to survive in real estate, but absolutely love where I live.  A few weeks ago in the middle of Feb. I drove to the beach with some friends, drank ICE COLD beer and played horseshoes in my bathing suit.  TRULY DEPRESSING!

[ProjectMaximus]

All I know is watching the Jags' 4th quarter defense this season certainly was depressing.

LOL...you may have hit on something. 7 of the worst 9 teams in the league this year are in the top 13 of this list (including the worst-ever detroit lions)

8 teams on this list had worse records than they did in 2007, and three failed to make the playoffs after going the year before. Clearly NFL success factored into their methodology...