Aug. 23, 2010 - Forbes Magazine has a habit of ranking cities on various traits. The magazine’s most recent ranking scale measures stress, and – no surprise – the Chicago area ranks 9th out of the top 10 most stressful metropolitan areas in the U.S.

The editors gave cities points based on six stressors: high unemployment, long commute times, long work hours, limited access to health care, poor physical health and a lack of exercise. They used the most recent numbers collected by different agencies that measure such things, such as the U.S. Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Out of 40 metropolitan areas, greater Chicago, which includes our neighboring counties, earned a ranking of 13th for unemployment, fourth for commute times, 24th for long working hours, 14th for limited health care, 21st for poor physical health and sixth for limited exercise.

Here are the winners - the top 10 most stressed-out cities:

1. Las Vegas
2. Los Angeles
3. Houston
4. Tampa
5. Riverside, Calif.
6. Miami
7. Dallas
8. New York
9. Chicago
10. Detroit