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A new report ranked Portland and Vancouver, Washington, as tied for the highest rate of depression in the nation.

(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A new report published this week might make you sad if you live in either of the region's two largest cities. Or, if the study is to be believed, you're probably sad already.

According to WalletHub, an online clearinghouse for financial advice and quality-of-life studies, Portland and Vancouver, Washington, have the highest rates of depression among the 150 largest cities in the country.

Those findings came in a report ironically called "2017's Happiest Places to Live." It turns out, when you measure happiness you also end up measuring sadness.

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According to their methodology, WalletHub used 30 metrics to evaluate each city "ranging from depression rate to income-growth rate to average leisure time spent per day," according to the website. Figures were drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several others sources.

Those metrics were then divided into three key dimensions with weighted scores. The first category, "Emotional and Physical Well-Being," accounted for 50 percent of the score. The second and third, "Income and Employment" as well as "Community and Environment," each accounted for 25 percent.

As far as the overall list of the happiest cities, Portland was right in the middle of the pack at 59 out of 150. Vancouver was down at 89, but the more interesting stats came when individual stats were broken out.

WalletHub also ranked cities on depression rates. All five of the cities with the lowest rates were just to our south in California, but the two highest rated cities were right here straddling the Columbia River. Tied for 113th were Portland and Vancouver.

The only other individual category where either city stood out was in rates of sports participation, where Portland ranked third highest after Seattle and Scottsdale, Arizona.

The state of Oregon isn't in great shape to deal with depression, either. An assessment last year from Mental Health America found the Beaver State ranked 49th out of 50 in terms of access to mental health care.

Despite its low ranking, Oregon has a number of resources available to people who find themselves in need of help, including a number of crisis hotlines for young people, military members and those contemplating suicide.

So do you buy it? Does the seemingly unceasing gloom never-ending drizzle have you down? If you live in Portland or Vancouver, do you feel like you live in one of the saddest places in the country? Or is Wallethub full of it?

Let us know in the comments.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048