Happiest cities in America 2010 (best, state, compared, places)

[french paris]

The happiest cities in America have been released and the Western United States ended up dominating the Top 10.
Several California cities did well in the rankings and a Colorado city took the top spot.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index was compiled based on interviews with more than 350,000 Americans, USA Today reports. The "life evaluation" for each city consisted of job opportunities, personal finances, physical health, moods, emotions, and communities


Happiest Cities In America: 2010 Well-Being Index Released (PHOTOS)

[Infamous Past]

Bastards take our tax dollars and wind up on these sort of lists? Speaking of DC here

[john_starks]

lol @ DC being on the list

[popnet]

Lol @ John Starks for being jealous.

[john_starks]

Originally Posted by popnet

Lol @ John Starks for being jealous.

i never said any place i lived in was happy(NYC & PHILLY), and neither is DC

you can't be serious about DC being a happy town?
yeah, the huffington post said so - lol

[Thomas R.]

I think the USA Today one allows you to sort a bit more.

Western cities fare best in well-being index - USATODAY.com

In terms of "emotional health", which is probably closest to actual happiness from what I recall of their system, Cedar Rapids is tops. It's not in the "well-being" top ten because of unhealthy behaviors. I don't know if the people in that movie about Cedar Rapids are all that happy, but it looked like they have unhealthy behaviors so maybe they have that right Honolulu, Holland-Grand Haven, and Orem-Provo are the three to be in the top ten for both emotional health and overall well-being. Peoria, Illinois was one of the lowest-ranked overall to be fairly high on emotional health. They were 12 for emotional health, but 80th overall and 155 for healthy behaviors. Salem, Oregon is maybe the land of "happy sick people" according to this. They place Salem in the top ten for emotional health, but 134th for physical health.

Ogden-Clearfield, Utah and Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California look to be the most emotionally unhealthy to be in the top ten for well-being. Although number one for well-being, Boulder, is not in the top 20 for emotional health. Salinas, California is maybe the land of "unhappy healthy people" as it was in the tenth for physical health, but was at 124 for emotional health.

The ones who are at the bottom on emotional health are generally at the bottom overall. Huntington-Ashland in Appalachia and Modesto, California being particularly low. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut is something of an exception among those who scored low on emotional health. It's 146 out of 162 on emotional health, but is placed 24th in overall well-being. Their scores in access and healthy behaviors really helped overcome their low rating on emotional health.

[ForYourLungsOnly]

This is funny....DC was just on Forbes Most Miserable Cities list...shows how seriously we're to take all these "lists" we're given.

[Hegotsoul831]

I can understand some of the cities towards the east and a couple Oregon cities.
But then I was amused to see Sacramento and Los Angeles on a 'happy' list. Maybe these
two arent exactly depressed, but I could probably count on one hand the folks I would consider
'happy' around town...Lol Especially in L.A. Lots of zany road-raging smokers zipping around in sort of an entertaining kinda way. At least to me anyway... But hey, what would you expect from a large city? For people to be walkin around, whistling with fishin' poles over their shoulders, like Andy and Opbie? Well in a perfect world.... Meanwhile, big city life aint quite like that. Just my 2.5 cents.

[EclecticEars]

D.C., on a happy list?! LOL!!

I wouldn't exactly consider NYC, Chicago, LA, or San Francisco to be "happy cities". Even Atlanta or Houston. I like all of those places, don't get me wrong, and all but NYC seem to have much happier people in general when compared to D.C.