Post by Jack Lee
What makes a state happy? LiveScience.com reports residents of happy states tend to be wealthier, better educated, more tolerant and more knowledgeable about healthy behaviors.
States that have more money have a greater ability to provide a solid infrastructure of police and fire protection, good schools and other amenities, making it easier for residents' needs to be met.
Happier states have a large number of residents with advanced educations whose jobs are considered "super-creative." These include architecture, engineering, computer and math occupations, library positions, arts and design work, as well as entertainment, sports and media occupations.
In addition, states with residents who are tolerant tend to have a higher proportion of artists and gays, making it easier for all to freely express themselves.
Residents who are knowledgeable about healthy behaviors not only exercise regularly, eat well and don't smoke, but also are more likely to have health insurance.
Of course, this is a generalization. Not every resident of Utah is happy, just as not every resident of West Virginia is miserable. But to arrive at the list, the Cambridge team analyzed data collected from more than 350,000 individuals who were interviewed in 2008 as part of the Gallup Organization's Well-Being Index. Six types of well-being were measured: overall evaluation of their lives, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviors (such as whether a person smokes or exercises) and job satisfaction.
All 50 states ranked for happiness with their happiness score (out of 100):
1. Utah: 69.2
2. Hawaii: 68.2
3. Wyoming: 68
4. Colorado: 67.3
5. Minnesota: 67.3
6. Maryland: 67.1
7. Washington: 67.1
8. Massachusetts: 67
9. California: 67
10. Arizona: 66.8
11. Idaho: 66.8
12. Montana: 66.7
13. New Hampshire: 66.7
14. Vermont: 66.6
15. Virginia: 66.5
16. Nebraska: 66.4
17. New Mexico: 66.3
18. Oregon: 66.3
19. Connecticut: 66.3
20. Alaska : 66.2
21. Texas: 66.1
22. Kansas: 66.1
23. Georgia: 66.0
24. Wisconsin: 65.9
25. New Jersey: 65.8
26. South Carolina: 65.7
27. Iowa: 65.6
28. North Dakota: 65.5
29. Maine: 65.5
30. Florida: 65.3
31. Illinois: 65.2
32. Pennsylvania: 64.9
33. Alabama: 64.9
34. North Carolina: 64.8
35. New York: 64.7
36. Delaware: 64.7
37. Rhode Island: 64.6
38. Nevada: 64.5
39. South Dakota: 64.3
40. Louisiana: 64.2
41. Michigan: 64.0
42. Tennessee: 64.0
43. Oklahoma: 64.0
44. Missouri: 63.8
45. Indiana: 63.3
46. Arkansas: 62.9
47. Ohio: 62.8
48. Mississippi: 61.9
49. Kentucky: 61.4
50. West Virginia: 61.2
Oddly states in the Bible belt are among the most unhappy.
Perhaps they are tired of seeing the country principally "changed" and their taxes increased to support the laziness of others...
The criteria also seems a bit fishy, depending on the questions that were asked to determine "happiness".
Not to mention that the results are almost all within 2 percentage points of each other.
In the end it looks as if a generally liberal magazine came up with a generally liberal test in which whether or not you smoke could have been the deciding factor on whether or not your state was happy.
How surprising.
"Perhaps they are tired of seeing the country principally "changed" and their taxes increased to support the laziness of others..."
Excellent point!
Interesting that California ranks in the top ten...don't we have a record number of people using welfare and other benefits as well as some very high unemployment figures? Yet the happiness figure seems to exclude the down and out:
Given California's particular money woes:
What does this say about all those highly creative and educated people in "happy" California?
Nuts and flakes?
God walked amongst the people of Judea, and I think we can conclude they were a very unhappy lot, at least the ones that refused to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. That being said, it is man who claims the area if the South is the so called Bible Belt as if that should pertain to what God sees. He sees the heart, men see only that which they want to see.
Now I am not one to say that all Christians are happier then the secular world, but the standards of what secular man says is happiness is different then that which men of God would use. A man who truly loves Christ can see nothing good in this fallen world, so why would a survey even consider what a Christian sees as good, bad, happiness, or sorrow.
So considering what I have just said, until we see what questions they asked and what complete standards they used, we cannot determine who is happy and who is sad. We may find out that the questions they asked and the standards they used for happiness were so stacked in the favor of loving this world, that we may have to flip the whole survey upside down. Then you may have to add at the end of the article,
"Oddly, states in the Bible belt are among the most happy."
To which I would then say,
"Why so surprised when men of God do not consider their happiness based upon the things of this world. To a christian worldly wealth and prosperity are not what makes a man happy nor defines his success. Can a man be happy when he is poor and destitute? Sure, because this world is not the ultimate goal of happiness. A relationship with God is pure happiness, everything else is icing on the cake, but it is not the cake.
I didn't think this article was very accurate, but it was interesting. For instance I don't know a lot of happy Californians. They see this state as going down the drain, along with their property values and savings.