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Old 01-27-2017, 07:43 PM
 
Location: Nashville TN, Cincinnati, OH
1,795 posts, read 1,858,432 times
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I do not believe anything the Huffington Post says, FAKE NEWS lol
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Old 01-28-2017, 02:49 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
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I agree with the top 10. I couldn't live in Alaska but I can understand how people who live there would love it.
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Old 01-28-2017, 04:34 AM
 
3,841 posts, read 4,488,651 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by canudigit View Post
I love living in Michigan and I'm not a native. We've been here almost twenty years and see no compelling reason to leave. It is beautiful, friendly, affordable, and has unbeatable weather from April to November, as far as I'm concerned.

We have visited many other states across the country and own a beach condo in a southern state where we plan to spend January through March when we retire in a few years, but the things that I consider vital to quality of life are available in spades here and our adult kids are just as happy here as we are so we have the added blessing of having them nearby.

American by birth, Michigander by the grace of God.
What part of Michigan do you live if you don't mind me asking? It seems very diverse.
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Old 01-28-2017, 09:43 AM
 
242 posts, read 237,105 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cavsfan137 View Post
I have a hard time thinking that there is that vast of a disparity, when looking at a wider sample. Especially between say Michigan and Minnesota, which are almost neighboring, and have a decent number of things in common. Out of the 12 listed for happiness, only 5 (UT/SLC, CO/DEN, OR/PDX, MN/MPLS, and TX (HOU/DAL/SA/AUS) have at least one mid sized urban metro), and only one has any of what I would consider Top 5 CSA's. 10 of the top 12 have what I would consider very significant natural beauty, and even ND and TX aren't bad in that regard. Only 4 of the top 12 are on the relatively expensive end, and the west dominates the top 12 with 7 out of the list. States with higher pct. of Scandinavian population are higher, too. The Midwest and Northeast have 4 states each in the bottom 10, with New Mexico being the sole western state. I don't how much merit I put in this, just some patterns I saw emerging.
Texas ftfy
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Old 01-28-2017, 10:37 AM
 
Location: In a rural place where people can't bother me ;)
516 posts, read 426,291 times
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I live in rural Eastern WA state. After growing up in the Puget Sound area of western WA state, I LOVE where my family and I live now. It's like were on a non stop vacation. Huge log home on 25 acres literally in the woods. The population of the nearest town (if you can call it that) isn't known. It's an unincorporated community. The only business is a family owned gas/service station. That is 15 miles north of my house. Pure awesomeness....


Our kids can be kids...PLAYING outside...making forts etc. God has been good to us!
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Old 01-28-2017, 11:11 AM
 
4,861 posts, read 9,253,733 times
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Originally Posted by Podo944 View Post
What part of Michigan do you live if you don't mind me asking? It seems very diverse.
In a small town with a scenic riverfront and historic downtown amid the farm fields of rural southeastern Michigan. The kind of town where you can literally leave your doors unlocked.
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Old 01-28-2017, 11:34 AM
 
1,586 posts, read 2,133,961 times
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I see a very strong correlation between this list and population density. Of the top 12 states where people "love where they live," 10 are in the bottom half of the U.S. for density. Meanwhile, of the 10 lowest-ranked states, seven are in the top half for density.

What's more, states at the very bottom of the density rankings are clustered at the top of the satisfaction rankings. Alaska, Wyoming and Montana are all in the top four lowest-density states and are also in the top four on the Huffington Post list.

There's no way any of this is a coincidence.

What I take from this is that basically, Americans don't like living in close quarters with other people. Personally, I like living in dense places. Truth is there are only a couple of states at the top of that list that I'd ever consider living in, while I'd live in a bunch on the bad list. When I was looking to move a couple of years ago, I came up with something I call the Burrito Rule: Can you easily get a burrito at 10 p.m.? If not, I don't want to live there. I don't imagine a lot of the people who gushed about living in Wyoming can get a burrito at 10 p.m.

In fact, I do live in the one that finished dead last, and often think about how it's the perfect state for me. It's dense, beautiful, historic, by the water, everything you need is nearby, near lots of other great places within an easy drive, very affordable for the region, still lots of nature around, the people tend to have a worldview I'm comfortable with, the politics agree with me. What's not to like?
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Old 01-28-2017, 12:48 PM
 
9,868 posts, read 7,594,802 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boulevardofdef View Post
I see a very strong correlation between this list and population density. Of the top 12 states where people "love where they live," 10 are in the bottom half of the U.S. for density. Meanwhile, of the 10 lowest-ranked states, seven are in the top half for density.

What's more, states at the very bottom of the density rankings are clustered at the top of the satisfaction rankings. Alaska, Wyoming and Montana are all in the top four lowest-density states and are also in the top four on the Huffington Post list.

There's no way any of this is a coincidence.

What I take from this is that basically, Americans don't like living in close quarters with other people.
Personally, I like living in dense places. Truth is there are only a couple of states at the top of that list that I'd ever consider living in, while I'd live in a bunch on the bad list. When I was looking to move a couple of years ago, I came up with something I call the Burrito Rule: Can you easily get a burrito at 10 p.m.? If not, I don't want to live there. I don't imagine a lot of the people who gushed about living in Wyoming can get a burrito at 10 p.m.

In fact, I do live in the one that finished dead last, and often think about how it's the perfect state for me. It's dense, beautiful, historic, by the water, everything you need is nearby, near lots of other great places within an easy drive, very affordable for the region, still lots of nature around, the people tend to have a worldview I'm comfortable with, the politics agree with me. What's not to like?
I noticed the same correlation.

People are just wired differently from each other, and that is a good thing. Even being born in one state doesn't make it the place that you would be happiest. I was born and lived a long time in a densely-populated eastern state, chose to move to one of the listed Top 10 and stayed there 25 years (loved it), got the itch to pursue something that Mother Nature had not put there in recent geological times, moved to a more densely populated area...and hated that very denseness. I thought that the convenience of being able to walk to all basic stores and services plus a few more, along with the original natural draw, would make up for what I had given up. Nope. The balance of pushes and pulls for each state ultimately became so lopsided that we back to the "loved" state. I do think it is possible to live happily in and love more than one state, but for me, the density thing absolutely has to be heavily weighted in the considerations.

The weird thing is that NM is in the bottom 10 despite not being all that densely populated.

I just hope that these kinds of silly lists don't cause such a big increase in people moving to the allegedly happiest states just because they are on such a list, without thinking a lot more carefully about the many possible reasons. As someone else pointed out, some of the top states have a high proportion of retirees who chose to live there. This means that those states might be terrible for people who are still working, if the job market does not exist for their skills.
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Old 01-28-2017, 01:23 PM
 
8,753 posts, read 6,674,180 times
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I love wilderness but love urban density even more, and the denser the better. An hour ago I also walked along the Elliott Bay waterfront with a light jacket and coffee, looking at with snowcapped mountains worthy of a wall calendar in the distance. Work is a seven-minute walk, a radius that also includes probably 100 restaurants.

It's an interesting list. The top two at 77% are sparsely populated, presumably with people who choose to be there. I'm surprised there aren't more people who can't wait to get out, but maybe they didn't survey many people younger than 20 who seem likeliest to be in that camp and who often in fact move away (both are typically slow-growth states).

The next group is a combination of small "lifestyle" oriented states, mid-sized states with reputations for being relatively progressive, and Texas which seems to retain/attract a lot of like-minded people.

Washington, my state, probably ranks above average, but a lot of people are annoyed about something. Seattle has gotten more expensive. People that care about traffic are unhappy about it. Other parts of the state feel too dominated by the Seattle area, and are often not doing as well economically. The Seattle area feels held back when the right gets its way. On the flip side, most people live in or near a stunning natural setting, whatever the combination of greenery, sagebrush desert, mountains, or water they live near.
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Old 01-28-2017, 02:23 PM
 
Location: Middle America
10,948 posts, read 6,991,865 times
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I wonder how much of that list is based on people wanting to look in control of their lives, and trying to justify where they live, even if they don't like their location deep down. The culture in some regions and states tends to be that way, while others are more honest, open, and real. Maybe some of those in the lower list are just more honest, while some in the upper are the bravado and boastful types that want to see their ways as always right and justified (nothing to have to explain or defend).

I've lived in two states from the upper list, and have seen many people proud of their state (and themselves) in an over-the-top way, thus the skepticism.

These lists - like most you see on the Internet - are ultimately groundless. You can't take all the variables in states and within people and come up with a nice list that applies to everyone, everywhere, all of the time. You get a thousand people familiar with all or most of the states, and have them make a list. You'll end up with about a thousand variations.
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