Hawaii Is Happiest State in US

by Colleen Barrett 2

Go west if you want to be happy, a Twitter analysis found last year. But now a new study says not to stop in California if you want to be the happiest, because the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index named Hawaii the most content state in the union.

Is it any wonder? Hawaii looks like a day at the beach — it kind of is — and not even jobs and day-to-day demands seem to make its residents forget that. Honestly, though, I would never move there. The beach is lovely, but it also bores me. Not to typecast — actually, that's exactly what I am going to do — but I've seen House Hunters, and I know what kind of people move to Hawaii. They are optimists and take life as it comes. Regardless of their economic bracket, work is not why they're there. While, surely, there are exceptions, people go to Hawaii for Hawaii, not for affordable housing, career paths, or tax breaks.

Now that I've made all our Hawaiian readers unhappy, see how your state ranks below.

1. Hawaii
2. Wyoming
3. North Dakota
4. Alaska
5. Colorado
6. Minnesota
7. South Dakota
8. Utah
9. Connecticut
10. Massachusetts
11. Nebraska
12. Maryland
13. Washington
14. Montana
15. Kansas
16. New Hampshire
17. Vermont
18. California
19. Iowa
20. Idaho
21. New Mexico
22. Virginia
23. Wisconsin
24. New Jersey
25. Maine
26. Illinois
27. Oregon
28. Texas
29. Arizona
30. Pennsylvania
31. Georgia
32. New York
33. Rhode Island
34. Missouri
35. South Carolina
36. North Carolina
37. Florida
38. Oklahoma
39. Indiana
40. Tennessee
41. Michigan
42. Louisiana
43. Delaware
44. Nevada
45. Ohio
46. Alabama
47. Arkansas
48. Mississippi
49. Kentucky
50. West Virginia

Source: Flickr User The Daily Ornellas