Tuesday, February 28, 2012
I don't know if there's necessarily a way to measure happiness, but the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index makes some effort every year to do so. Big surprise, Hawaii is on top, scoring 70.2 out of 100. Slide down the chart and you get to Arizona, which comes in as the 26th happiest state this year, slightly happier than Texas (well, sure), but less happy than Maine. I can understand Colorado and Minnesota ranking high on the list, but North Dakota and Nebraska? Is there some sort of ignorant bliss in effect in these states that they've forgotten where they actually live? Madness.
Hawaii: 70.2
North Dakota: 70.0
Minnesota: 69.2
Utah: 69.0
Alaska: 69.0
Colorado: 68.4
Kansas: 68.4
Nebraska: 68.3
New Hampshire: 68.2
Montana: 68.0
South Dakota: 67.8
Vermont: 67.7
Maryland: 67.6
Virginia: 67.4
Iowa: 67.4
Massachusetts: 67.4
California: 67.3
Washington: 67.3
Connecticut: 67.2
Oregon: 67.1
Wyoming: 66.9
Wisconsin: 66.9
Idaho: 66.9
New Mexico: 66.8
Maine: 66.7
Arizona: 66.6
Texas: 66.4
Georgia: 66.3
New Jersey: 66.2
North Carolina: 66.1
Pennsylvania: 66.0
Illinois: 65.9
South Carolina: 65.7
New York: 65.7
Rhode Island: 65.6
Louisiana: 65.5
Michigan: 65.3
Oklahoma: 65.1
Indiana: 65.1
Nevada: 65.0
Tennessee: 65.0
Florida: 64.9
Missouri: 64.8
Arkansas: 64.7
Alabama: 64.6
Ohio: 64.5
Delaware: 64.2
Mississippi: 63.4
Kentucky: 63.3
West Virginia: 62.3
Tags: happiest states , arizona is a sad place to live , Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index , Video