The Burrow
Sep 25, 2025
Life in a bustling city can be exciting, but for some, it often comes with a hidden cost in the form of rising anxiety levels. As urban areas expand and populations grow, many residents face mounting challenges that affect both their personal well-being and the wider community.
From long commutes and crowded streets to the demands of a fast-paced work environment, cities can place constant pressure on those who live and work there. This pressure doesn’t just impact daily routines, as it can also have lasting effects on mental health, productivity, and overall quality of life.
To determine the most anxious cities in the world, the health insurance comparison experts at Compare the Market carried out some research into both general anxiety and work stress. By analysing search data for anxiety-related terms, we can identify the places where residents may be struggling most, and where greater support is needed.
And to provide deeper insights, our ranking separates large and small cities. Larger cities typically face intense competition, higher costs of living, and heavier social pressures, whereas smaller cities, though far from immune, often present different stress patterns linked to congestion, population size, and professional demands.
By comparing these environments, this study offers a clearer picture of how city size shapes levels of anxiety, giving valuable context for anyone seeking healthier surroundings or considering stress-relieving insurance plans.
When we look at large cities in the US and Canada, there are some that clearly stand out for anxiety levels and work stress:
With a population of 520,070, Atlanta has a seriously high level of searches relating to anxiety, especially around terms such as “work burnout” and “chronic stress”. In fact, the city has 4,540 searches per 100,000 residents, giving it a maximum Work Anxiety Score of 100 out of 100.
Next up is Victoria, which has a population of 363,222 and roughly 1,043 searches for topics such as “how to deal with anxiety” per 100,000 people, giving our first Canadian city a score of 91.37 out of 100.
Not far behind Victoria, we then have London, Ontario. With a total resident count of around 423,369 people, London, Ontario, saw an average of 1,481 searches per 100,000 people, resulting in a score of 86.62.
Another city in Ontario with more than its fair share of work stress is the country’s capital, Ottawa. With a much larger population of 1,068,821, the hustle and bustle of this Canadian city clearly translates to stressful situations, as Ottawa received a score of 83.67.
Seattle comes in at number two for the USA, but despite having a much lower score than Atlanta, its higher population of 780,995 and 2,498 searches per 100,000 people around anxiety-related searches still make it a very anxious city, with a score of 76.06.
While not the capital, Calgary has an even larger population than Ottawa, currently standing at 1,305,550. Its citizens carry out research on topics such as “how to deal with work depression” fairly often, with 1,642 searches per 100,000. This gives Calgary a score of 73.61.
Also in Alberta, Edmonton has a population of 1,151,635, and around 1,314 of these locals are making searches on anxiety per 100,000 people. With a Work Anxiety Score of 56.43, the city comes in at number seven in North America.
Providing the Canadian’s might be as chill as they seem, Winnipeg is another stressed-out Canadian city. With a population of 758,515 and 1,378 searches per 100,000 people, it receives a score of 54.35 for city anxiety.
And for number 9 in the US, we’re still in Canada, and specifically Ontario, once again. Kitchener has 522,888 residents and sees 643 stress-related searches for every 100,000 of them. This gives the city a score of 54.29.
Finally, back in the USA, San Francisco is home to the country’s third-highest levels of stress. Despite being known as a beautiful and chilled-out place to live, the city’s population of 827,526 searches for anxiety-related information an average of 1,573 times per 100,000 people. As a result, its Work Anxiety Score is 51.19.
Moving away from larger cities, let’s take a look at smaller cities in North America and how their stress levels compare to their larger counterparts:
Despite smaller cities seeming more friendly and relaxed, residents can still very much feel the pressures of everyday life. Charlottetown has a population of 52,390, and there are 3,092 searches per 100,000 people around anxiety and stress. This high volume of work stress research gives the city a score of 94.94 out of 100.
Have you ever considered Manchester in New Hampshire a particularly stressful place? Its 116,386 residents apparently do, as there are 1,443 searches per 100,000 people. This gives it a score of 77.01, which is higher than that of many larger cities.
There are 230,402 people living in Huntsville, making it quite big for a small city, and yet residents still search for stress relief tips and similar advice 1,293 times per 100,000 people, meaning it receives a score of 70.34.
Another example of how anxiety manifests in smaller urban environments, Charleston has a population of 157,665, and still, there are 1,992 searches per 100,000. As a result, Charleston has a score of 68.19 for stress and anxiety.
With the second-highest levels of stress out of all small Canadian cities, Brandon’s population of 50,532 carries out 2,315 searches per 100,000 people. The city’s score of 65.44 is higher than four of the top ten large cities listed above.
With America and the Northwest covered, let’s now go over to Australia – starting with the country’s most anxious large cities:
Beginning with the ever-popular vacation spot of Central Coast, this big Australian city might only have a population of 351,237 residents, but with 957 anxiety and stress searches being made per 100,000, it wound up with a hefty work anxiety score of 84.12.
Next, we’re shifting the Melbourne’s closest neighbour, Geelong, which has a similarly sized population to Central Coast at 308,915. And much like our first-place Australian city, anxiety searches per 100,000 residents are pretty high at 741, giving the city a score of 80.69.
Continuing the trend of southern Australia being the most stressed, Wollongong joins our top three, thanks to the 817 searches being made per 100,000 residents for a total work anxiety score of 73.23.
Often mistaken for Australia’s capital, Sydney is a bustling hive of business and tourism at all times of the year. As a result, its massive population of 5,143,256 makes an average of 1,574 anxiety searches per 100,000, though this does give it a lower score of 64.86.
The actual capital of Australia, Canberra, has a much smaller population compared to Sydney, and while locals are making roughly 1,046 searches per 100,000, this is only enough to give it a maximum score of 61.30.
And now let’s see how general anxiety and stress within work environments are affecting residents of small cities in Australia:
Returning again to the state of Victoria, Ballarat residents make 1,450 searches per 100,000 for a population of 119,284, leading it to have a score of 90.02.
Next, over in Queensland, we have Rockhampton, whose small population of 82,876 make a surprising 1,496 anxiety searches per 100,000 residents, upping their end score to 76.04.
Staying in Queensland, Toowoomba has a population of 152,087, 1,341 of which are making stress searches per 100,000 people, for a total score of 75.44.
Appearing in our list of anxious Australian areas for the third time, Bendigo in Victoria has a population of 106,022, and sees 1,188 searches per 100,000 to score 70.58.
Lastly, we have Townsville in Queensland. Home to a population of 189,356, it still sees a high anxiety search level of 1,621 per 100,000 and gets a work anxiety score of 70.28.
Finally, we’ve also included Ireland in our analysis. And instead of splitting between large and small cities, Irish cities are ranked based on the total volume of anxiety and stress-related searches per 100,000 people.
With a population of 592,713 and 6,396 searches per 100,000 people, the residents of Ireland’s capital city are officially the most anxious.
Much smaller than Dublin, Drogheda has 30,900 residents but 4,790 searches per 100,000, making it the second-most stressed city in Ireland.
Finally, it seems that Leinster is a very anxious province, as Naas completes the top three Irish cities for stress. Though its population is just 26,306, there are 4,258 searches for topics such as “anxiety symptoms” and “work depression” per 100,000 people.
No matter where you are and what you do for a living, stress can get to all of us from time to time. Fortunately, there are ways to help manage it. As Steven Spicer – Executive General Manager of Health, Life and Energy at Compare the Market, says:
“Reducing work stress starts with creating a healthier work environment, where balance and support are prioritised. Simple steps like regular breaks, open communication, and mindfulness can go a long way in easing anxiety.” Mr Spicer says.
“It’s also important to think long term, and talk to your GP about your anxiety. They can prescribe medications and a treatment plan to assist, and might refer you to a mental health specialist. Australian private health insurance extras policies can cover some costs for counselling and potentially certain prescription medications, but coverage varies by policy. For Australians with health insurance or considering taking out a policy, it’s worth comparing or speaking with a Compare the Market health insurance expert to understand what’s included.”
This dataset contains 7 rankings, with each country (except Ireland) having 2 rankings – one with a list of large cities in that country, and another with a list of smaller cities – to compare anxiety levels between cities of similar sizes.
We used 4 key work-related anxiety search prompts, with each search prompt being measured by searches per 100,000 residents. These were collected and normalised to a score between 0 and 1, and if data was missing, a score of 0 was given.
These scores were then combined to give each city a total work anxiety score out of 100, and ranked them from most to least anxious based on this. (Irish cities are instead ranked based on the total anxiety and stress searches per 100k).
The work-related anxiety search prompts used are as follows:
The other general anxiety and stress search prompts used are as follows:
The ‘Work Anxiety Score’ is calculated from the indexes of the top 4 work-related anxiety search volumes, per 100,000 population, for each city.
The ‘Total Anxiety and Stress Searches per 100k’ is the total number of searches for all 10 above search prompts, per 100,000 population.
Population was sourced using City Population figures, while keyword search volume was sourced using Google Ads keyword tool.
All data is correct as of 20/08/25. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regard to the sources provided. All search data is from the period Jul 24 – Jun 25.