Happiest States in America? Check This Report
Friday, December 18th, 2009
Happiest States in America? What do you think?, If you have bad feel and want to feel happier. Please go to Lousiana, Florida or Tennessee. But you have to stay away from New York. According to Journal Science, the happiest states in america is Lousiana.
On Thursday, the journal Science published new research that breaks down happiness level by state, and, in general terms, warmer, less high-profile states win by a landslide. Louisiana topped the list, followed in order by the other states above. The Empire State ranked dead last, and Connecticut, New Jersey and yes, even California, ranked only slightly higher.
“We have been asked a lot whether we expected that states like New York and California would do so badly in the happiness ranking. Having visited and lived in various parts of the US, I am only a little surprised,” Professor Andrew Oswald of the UK’s University of Warwick, one of the authors of the study, said in a press release.
“Many people think these states would be marvelous places to live in. The problem is that if too many individuals think that way, they move into those states, and the resulting congestion and house prices make it a non-fulfilling prophecy. In a way, it is like the stock market. If everyone thinks it would be great to buy stock X, that stock is generally already overvalued. Bargains in life are usually found outside the spotlight. It may be that exactly the same is true of the best places to live.”
Fascinating — and so logical!
Oswald and Stephen Wu of Hamilton College (located in New York, ironically) worked together to determine their rankings based on how people responded to something called the 2005- 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which in part queried people on their life satisfaction.
Oswald expressed some caution on Louisiana’s results, since some people answered the survey before Hurricane Katrina, and others after, but he generally deems the list an accurate portrayal of Americans’ happiness level.
Not sure where your state ranks? Check out the list below — and make a New Year’s resolution to move somewhere in the top ten:
Andrew Oswald/Wu ranking of happiness levels by US State:
1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Tennessee
5. Arizona
6. Mississippi
7. Montana
8. South Carolina
9. Alabama
10. Maine
11. Alaska
12. North Carolina
13. Wyoming
14. Idaho
15. South Dakota
16. Texas
17. Arkansas
18. Vermont
19. Georgia
20. Oklahoma
21. Colorado
22. Delaware
23. Utah
24. New Mexico
25. North Dakota
26. Minnesota
27. New Hampshire
28. Virginia
29. Wisconsin
30. Oregon
31. Iowa
32. Kansas
33. Nebraska
34. West Virginia
35. Kentucky
36. Washington
37. District of Columbia
38. Missouri
39. Nevada
40. Maryland
41. Pennsylvania
42. Rhode Island
43. Massachusetts
44. Ohio
45. Illinois
46. California
47. Indiana
48. Michigan
49. New Jersey
50. Connecticut
51. New York
tag. happiest states, happiest state
