The Misery Index 

The Misery Index was initially published in an article by the Wall Street Journal in March of 2011 and showed Phoenix as the "most miserable" city in the United States.

The original index conceived of by Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal was based upon three factors: 

- The change in an area's unemployment rate,

- the change in an area's single family home price; and

- the change in an area's gas prce.

Development Economics constructed a similar index using the same data series used by Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal. The index was developed for the period 2008 through 2012 for  Phoenix and the United States. (Due to data limirations, the US index could only be compared with Phoenix from 2011 through the current date.

The accompanying graphs on the right hand column display the data for each of these series.

The index calculation was computed using a mathematical approach discussed in a handbook published by the OECD. The methodology calls for establishing weights for each of the three variables used in constructing the index. Values of 40%, 40% and 20% were used based upon the relative budget shares of each of these types of expenditures.

These data and the resulting Index will be updated every three months by Development Economics, and the results will be shown here. Please Contact Us if you would like an email notification when the Index has been updated.