Indiana is the 47th happiest state.
A new study found that a person’s self-reported happiness matches up with objective measures of state-level happiness.
The results are based on an examination of two data sets, one that included personal reports of happiness for 1.3 million Americans and the other that included objective measures, such as how crowded that state is, air quality, home prices and other factors known to impact quality of life.
Less happy: 48. Michigan; 49. New Jersey; 50. Connecticut; 51. New York. (There are 51 because D.C. (#37) is included. The happiest states: 1. Louisiana; 2. Hawaii; 3. Florida; 4. Tennessee; 5. Arizona.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t accept these results (I would personally be VERY unhappy to live in any of the “happy” states, and would be absolutely ecstatic to live in an “unhappy” place like New York.) It is interesting that the states that scored well also have some of the nation’s lowest educational achievement, along with some of the highest percentages of religious fundamentalism and other social dysfunctions–high divorce rates, etc. To be fair, they do tend to have warm weather.
I think what this study really tells us is that people with very limited horizons don’t know what they’re missing.
That’s kinda snobby, Sheila, don’t you think? Judging whole states with the broad brush?
I’m trying to live in a state of grace.
Not listening to silly surveys helps a lot…
Seems to be some correlation between warmth and self-reported happiness. Normally I agree with The Other Sheila, but Indiana is hardly high-ranking in educational achievement. Religious fundamentalism is not a rarity here. Our divorce rate is nothing to crow about either. And who wouldn’t want to live in Hawaii if given the chance? The cost of living is high, and there are large eight-legged creatures there, but it is beautiful.
I left Indiana over a year ago, but I didn’t go to Hell. No, I came to Illinois, which isn’t a whole lot happier. I don’t really know why New York is so unhappy, but I’m sure we can blame Joe Lieberman for Connecticut. ;)
Snobby? Check out the rest of the Top Ten:
6. Mississippi
7. Montana
8. South Carolina
9. Alabama
10. Maine
If you restrict those results to the mainland, I suggest they correlate perfectly with the odds the respondent was either drunk, too old to hear the question, or unable to understand it.
Hmm. “Objective” criteria? Well perhaps, but I posit that those critieria are fairly meaningless in this context. Whether the air I breathe is clean, or the price of my house is low has little or nothing to do with how “happy” I am.
Anybody else feel that way?