Rob Fox
WalletHub released its annual Happiest States in America rankings, determining which states’ residents are the most comfortable and content by factoring three key categories together: Emotional & Physical Well-Being, Work Environment, and Community & Environment.
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Spoiler Alert: Hawaii got first place. It’s not all that surprising that living in paradise makes people happy. Not sure a study was necessary.
Here’s an interactive map of America that color codes the states by happiness, as well as the full rankings, below.
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1. Hawaii
2. Utah
3. Minnesota
4. North Dakota
5. California
6. Idaho
7. Maryland
8. Iowa
9. South Dakota
10. Nebraska
11. Wisconsin
12. Connecticut
13. New Jersey
14. New York
15. Virginia
16. Massachusetts
17. Washington
18. Colorado
19. Georgia
20. North Carolina
21. Arizona
22. Texas
23. Illinois
24. New Hampshire
25. Kansas
26. Nevada
27. Delaware
28. Montana
29. Florida
30. Pennsylvania
31. Rhode Island
32. Indiana
33. Maine
34. Michigan
35. Wyoming
36. South Carolina
37. Ohio
38. Vermont
39. Oregon
40. Tennessee
41. New Mexico
42. Missouri
43. Mississippi
44. Kentucky
45. Alabama
46. Oklahoma
47. Alaska
48. Louisiana
49. Arkansas
50. West Virginia
Some interesting results here. Idaho seems way too high. Kansas does too, at first, until you realize that it’s right smack in the middle and that’s pretty fitting for the place on Earth that most closely resembles Purgatory. Colorado and Texas, meanwhile, feel like they aren’t ranked high enough. West Virginia is, like Kansas, right where it should be.
Here’s a breakdown from WalletHub of the highest and lowest ranking states for the sub-categories they considered in their overall happinest states in America rankings, including long-term unemployement rate, sports participation, job satisfaction, divorce rate, and income growth.
All things considered, this is still pretty arbitrary. Are you happier because you live in a happy state? Do you even care what state you live in? How was the quality of food not factored into this? That’s about 90% of what makes me happy on a daily basis. If I don’t have good pizza and tacos around me I’m a real grump. Oh well, this is all made up anyway, but I hope your state ranked well.
