The state-by-state list (including Washington, D.C.), from happiest to least cheery: 1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Tennessee
5. Arizona
6. South Carolina
7. Mississippi
8. Montana
9. Alabama
10. Maine
11. Wyoming
12. Alaska
13. North Carolina
14. South Dakota
15. Texas
16. Idaho
17. Vermont
18. Arkansas
19. Georgia
20. Utah
21. Oklahoma
22. Delaware
23. Colorado
24. New Mexico
25. North Dakota
26. Minnesota
27. Virginia
28. New Hampshire
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. Ohio
44. Massachusetts
45. Illinois
46. California
47. New Jersey
48. Indiana
49. Michigan
50. Connecticut
51. New York | 
11 comments:
really, Louisiana (though they did preface with a note on that hurricane) - I have been recently, it's my home state - does not seem 'Happy'!
So if sunshine and good climate and all make people happy, I wonder why California ranks so low?
As for Louisiana, sure they're happy. They haven't had a devastating hurricane for half a year now. Yippee. Economy, humidity, poverty, these apparently have little bearing on happiness...
Pretty interesting.
It light of all that, yes - interesting it is.
'Oswald urged a bit of caution in that ranking, however, noting that part of the happiness survey occurred before Hurricane Katrina struck the state, and part of it took place later. Nevertheless, he said, "We have no explicit reason to think there is a problem" with the ranking.'
--Part of the big hmmm, along with the notion of what criteria were queried and how, and how big the discrepancies were. It also occurs to me that Hawaii definitely and probably LA and FL are extremely provincial, while people in some of the other states might actually know what other places are like and have a better sense of how things might be improved around home. I note the more affluent states are mostly congregated toward the bottom.
I live in Louisiana and I think people here have the strongest sense of family ties that I've encountered (I've lived in a number of state and in England). Close-knit family bonds can be constricting but they can also be comforting, giving support and security to one's life and sense of one's place in the world. I suspect family ties play a large part in the sense of well-being and happiness that people in Louisiana experience.
Plus, the Saints are 13-0.
That's just idiotic. Louisiana is happiest? In what universe?
And New York may not be happy but no way we rank below Michigan.
Jeff
Deb--Hawaii is also very clannish. I wouldn't be surprised if Florida tends to be, too. It helps keep the provincialism strong.
Correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation.
Or something like that.
A billion dollar State Budget deficit, a dysfunctional State Government, and a weak State economy: that might explain the New York ranking of 51. I, however, am happy.
There are exceptions but the whole spectrum correlates to low and high taxes.
RSW
Hawaii isn't a low-tax state. Or, I should say, it wasn't.
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