The Most Stressful City

Good afternoon all. Another glorious day in Washington State. I just got back from a long bike ride, and was thinking about the size of Tacoma. It's a hard place to figure out because it is so spread out, there are so many dang automobiles, and it is so close to Seattle. TO help your mind quantify the size of the city here are some interesting (and not so intersting) facts and comparisons about our current place of residence.

The city of Tacoma, WA isn't as large as you'd think. Spread out over an area roughly 15 miles in diameter, and split nearly down the middle by the South Puget Sound, Tacoma pales in comparison to its neighbor to the north, Seattle. However, what the estimated 196,000 people that live in Tacoma might not know is that their relatively small city is actually the size of at least one Africa country, French Guiana. To further connect Tacoma's population to other things of planetary significance near or at the same number is easy. For example: October of 1918, our nation suffered the deadliest month in its history. Due to the outbreak of Influenza, a record 195,000 people fell victim to the deadly disease. Also, Reno, Nevada, dubbed "The Biggest Little City in America" has a population of 195,000. Another quirky fact about Reno is that during the '20s and '30s, many women escaped to Reno looking for a Reno-vation of their life. Unlike many other states in the nation at during that time, they could get a divorce after the short 6 weeks period it took to gain residency.

New York City is comprised of five burroughs: The Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. According to a 2001 census, the south section of the the Bronx alone has 195,000 people. (Now if that doesn't make Tacoma feel small?!) And finally, because of Tacoma's not so big-not so small population, it suffers from middle child syndrome. Yes. Recently (2004), Tacoma was ranked our nation's most stressful city to live in. Why? Apparently, Tacoma has an extremely high number of suicides, unemployed residents, homeless people, and gloomy days. To boot, John Muhammad, the Washington, D.C. sniper from a few years back (remember him?!) was from here.

And that's all I have to offer your brain today.