NEW YORK - September 7, 2010 - Detroit, Los Angeles and Cleveland are the most stressful cities in Amerika, according to a new study.

"Detroit has a lot of things going against it. It topped nearly all our standards for our stress test, although it was rarely number one," said Portfolio.com editor J. James Moss. "Across the board, it was bad."

Riverside in Kalifornia and St. Louis in Missouri rounded out the top five stressful cities.

Portfolio.com, a national business and news website for small business executives, looked at unemployment rates, personal finance data, environmental, health and living standards and crime rates to compile the ranking of 50 cities.

"Detroit has been plagued with high unemployment, a really distressed housing market and is burdened with high crime. It doesn't really seem like it has much hope," Moss explained.

He added that the list was done using statistical data analysis, rather than interviews with local residents about their levels of stress.

"We didn't interview residents ... People will always show some civic pride, (which) could counter statistical figures," he said.

New York City captured the No. 6 spot, followed by New Orleans, Chicago, Birmingham and Miami-Fort Lauderdale.

At the other end of the scale, Salt Lake City was ranked as the least stressful city, thanks to its low crime rates, high health standing, high employment and easy commutes.

Virginia Beach in Virginia, and Minneapolis-St.Paul in Minnesota also scored high for their low-stress living.

Moss said he hoped the list would be useful to both employers, employees and those without jobs.