In fact, Salt Lake City is ranked as the eighth most stressful place among the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, according to Forbes.com, the Web site of Forbes magazine.

In a story posted on Friday, Forbes.com cited "quality of life indicators" that placed Salt Lake City in the Top 10 for stress. Those are housing affordability, unemployment, the cost of gasoline, air quality, the number of sunny days and population density.

Chicago was named as the most stressful place, with three California areas - San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles - also in the Top 10.

"Utah's capital has the 13th least affordable housing on our list and the eighth highest price at the pump in an area where cars rule," said Forbes.com.

Though Utah housing prices have begun to level off in recent months, they have been rapidly rising for about three years, while wages have not kept pace.

"We've seen home prices in Utah, particularly at the lower end, continuing to rise modestly and incomes over the last few years have not kept pace," said Grant Whitaker, senior vice president of Utah Housing, a self-supporting state agency that helps provide affordable housing for low- and moderate-income Utahns.

The survey also cited the price of gasoline in the area on Sept. 4 as the eighth highest in the nation. Though on Friday, the average price per gallon for regular gas in the Salt Lake-Ogden area was $3.70, compared with $3.80 nationally. Salt Lake City also had a 5.9 percent unemployment rate in August, Forbes.com said, citing the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

The Utah Department of Workforce Services, however, said the statewide unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in August, and that raised questions about the rankings for Marty Carpenter, director of communication and marketing for the Salt Lake Chamber.

"Statewide, the economy is still outpacing the national marks," Carpenter said.

Stress aside, Utah businesses are still recruiting people from outside the state to move here, he said.

But Carpenter acknowledged that air quality is a concern.

"We don't want a reputation that we're a dirty city. No one wants that anymore," he said, citing efforts like the region's mass transit as part of the effort to improve air quality.

The survey also showed Salt Lake City had the 14th highest population density of areas surveyed.

tharvey@sltrib.com

Ten most stressful

1. Chicago

2. New York

3. Detroit

4. Los Angeles

5. San Francisco

6. San Diego

7. Cleveland

8. Salt Lake City

9. Providence, R.I.

10. Philadelphia

Source: Forbes.com