New Study Finds U-M Students Among the Most Stressed Out in the U.S.

by Matt Zajechowski

Between exams, heavy course loads, and other responsibilities, being a college student is no cakewalk. And, with some schools slashing acceptance rates in the wake of the pandemic, it’s no wonder why students feel the pressure to perform.   

To get a sense of how college students are feeling, a study looked at the place they express themselves most: social media, specifically Twitter. The researchers scraped all tweets in 150 geolocations from August 1, 2022 through October 31, 2022. Then they analyzed the tweets using a sentiment strength direction tool. The study then whittled down the list of cities to those where the total student body, both graduate and undergrad, at the one or more colleges and universities in that town is 30% or more of the total population. 

Researchers reviewed tweets from students in 150 cities that were posted during the first three months of the fall semester (August 1st to October 1st), analyzing them with a machine learning stress measurement tool.

Then, the study narrowed down the list of cities to the ones with one or more prominent universities and where the total student body, both graduate and undergraduate, makes up 30% or more of the total city population. 

Here’s the list of the top ten most stressed-out college towns in the U.S. 

Key findings 

• Berkeley, California, home to University of California at Berkeley, is the #1 most stressed-out college town with more than 42% of tweets containing language with signs of stress. 
• Two Ivy League colleges made the list of the most stressed college towns and they both happen to be in the top 10 – Harvard University (#2) and Cornell University (#10).
• Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to the University of Michigan, is the 7th most stressed-out college town with almost one-third of student Tweets related to anxiety and stress-related issues.

The most stressful college towns ranked

According to the Real College Survey of 2021, 3 in 5 students experienced basic needs insecurity, feeling stress over food and housing, making the towns they live in an added stressor to their college experience.

This may partly explain why Berkeley, California is our #1 most stressed-out college town. Berkeley’s cost of living is 82% higher than the national average, and accessing basic needs certainly can put a strain on students. 

But not every college town in our top 10 has a significantly high cost of living. For example, while Berkeley is our #1 pick, the cost of living in Iowa City, IA, our #3 pick, is only 7% higher than the national average. 

Universities & colleges in the most stressed college towns

From high-stress cultures to quiet Midwestern towns, some college towns and the schools located in them have sent out some high-stress tweets.

Two Ivy League colleges made the list for the most stressed college towns, with both appearing in our top 10 – Harvard University (#2) and Cornell University (#10), but while Ivies are notorious for stressed-out environments, they aren’t the only college towns experiencing a lot of stress.

Berkeley, CA, is home to one of nine campuses for the University of California (UC), Berkeley’s UC campus is also home to a notorious stress culture known for its unfortunate reputation as the “workaholic” UC campus. This was the top town with stress-related tweets, coming in at 43%.

Cambridge, MA, came in second in our rankings with 35% of its tweets related to stress. Cambridge is home to Harvard, an Ivy League university as well as MIT, both known for their high-stress environments.

Other college towns that ranked high on the list include midwest towns like East Lansing, MI, home to Michigan State University, and Notre Dame, IN, where students attend The University of Notre Dame. These schools had 30.9% and 29.2% of their tweets, respectively, signaling stress.

College towns on the coast had their own supply of high-stress tweets too. Stanford, CA, home to Stanford University came in with stressed-out tweets at 30.3% while Ithaca, NY, home to Cornell had stressed-out tweets at 29.1%.

Mental health and the college experience

Stress in college is not a new phenomenon. In fact, academic stress is the leading cause of stress in college students, and that’s been around for as long as colleges have been. 

The problem, however, is that stress levels among college students seem to be getting worse. UC Berkeley – the #1 stressed-out school – did a study on stress and anxiety and found that anxiety levels in college students doubled from 2008 to 2016. Researchers suspect the rise is linked to financial stress and time spent on digital devices.

In its 2021 National College Health Assessment, the American College Health Association found that: 

• Nearly 75% of college students expressed moderate to serious psychological distress.
• Nearly 80% reported moderate to high stress levels in the past 30 days. 
• The top challenges students faced were academics (52%) and finances (41%).
• Unfortunately, stress among college students is closely associated with suicide, with more than 1 in 4 college students identified as being at risk. 

While some stress in college is normal and to be expected, it’s clear that, for many students, the stress level is unmanageable, and they would benefit from better support.