The Happiest State in the US

Happiness comes in many forms, but where is it easiest to find? We analyzed the data to discover America’s happiest state.

North Dakota

Is the happiest state in America

The Peace Garden state topped the ranking after the study found it performed well in 17 factors that contribute towards happiness, such as health, income, work-life balance and environment.

Top three states

1

North Dakota

North Dakota ranked the happiest out of all 50 states after performing well in a number of different factors, including the highest level of income growth over the past year, the second-best score for open spaces and beauty, and the highest number of national parks per square ft.  

2

Vermont

In second position is Vermont, performing particularly well in factors related to health. Health factors have the highest weight in the analysis as the OECD’s Better Life Index has found that Americans rate it as the most important contributor to their happiness. 

3

Nebraska

Nebraska places as the third happiest state, and scores the highest in the index for the best work-life balance, which is measured on factors such as commute time, number of health clubs and average working hours. 

Happiest state Rankings

Discover where each state ranked for happiness

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

Happiest State

The key happiness factors.

Health ranks as US citizens’ most important contributor towards happiness, according to the OECD Better Life Index, and the study included four separate factors within the category – depression rate, sleep, suicide numbers and number of hospitals per capita. North Dakota ranks the highest while West Virginia ranks the lowest of all 50 states.  

Education is the second most important element for happiness, and Vermont comes out on top with the most higher education places per capita. In second place is North Dakota and coming in third is Montana.  

Work-Life Balance is also highly valued by Americans, with the study revealing Nebraska as the best place to achieve it. This category factored in health clubs per capita, working hours, volunteer rate, unemployment rate, commute time and divorce rates, with Utah placing second and Montana third. Conversely, Nevada places 50th on the list for achieving a good balance between career and home life. 

 

Environment is fourth on the list of things that make people happy in America, and California takes the top spot in the category, which assesses the percentage of trees covering state, open spaces and beauty and national parks. Rhode Island comes in second and Oregon third while New York ranks in last place.  

Safety is ranked as the fifth most important consideration for happiness in the US. The state that has the highest safety score is Alaska followed by Mississippi, while North Carolina comes in as the least safe.  

Housing is the sixth most important contributor to happiness, and sees Hawaii at the bottom of the pile, with the smallest average housing size (sq. ft) out of all the states, while Utah ranks first for housing size.  

Income is the seventh and final happiness factor on the list, and North Dakota comes in first again, thanks to its income growth percentage over the last year. New Hampshire has had the lowest income growth out of all US states.  

Research Methodology

17 factors were used to rank each state’s level of happiness: 
  • Population with depression  
  • Population with insufficient seep  
  • Number of health clubs  
  • Number of suicides  
  • Average working hours  
  • Income growth  
  • Divorce rate  
  • Volunteer rate  
  • Average commute time  
  • Average house size  
  • Percentage of trees covering the state  
  • Number of national parks  
  • Open spaces and beauty  
  • Safety  
  • Number of higher education places  
  • Number of hospitals.  

Data was found on each of the factors for all 50 states in the US. Each of the factors were then ranked using a 10-point scale, with 10 being the best.  

The rankings were then weighted by importance to a US resident based on the OECD Better Life Index’s survey of what US citizens value in terms of making them happy.  

Order of importance of each factor:  

  1. Health
  2. Education 
  3. Work-Life Balance 
  4. Environment 
  5. Safety 
  6. Housing
  7. Income    

The Index scores were taken and the state with the highest score was ranked the happiest in the US.  

Sources    

Better Life Index – https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/responses/#USA  

Depression Rate – https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/depression-rates-by-state  

Insufficient Sleep – https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/data_statistics.html and https://www.zippia.com/advice/most-exhausted-states/  

Suicide Numbers – https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/suicide-rates-by-state  

Work Hours – https://www.business.org/hr/workforce-management/most-overworked-states/  

Divorce Rate – https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/divorce-rate-by-state  

Unemployment Rate – https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm  

Income Growth – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States_by_GDP  

Volunteer Rate – https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/04/us/volunteering-statistics-united-states-america-cfc/index.html and https://americorps.gov/sites/default/files/document/Volunteering_in_America_States_508.pdf  

Safest State – https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/safest-states  

Greenest State – https://www.mphonline.org/green-states/  

This article and research is for informational purposes and should not replace advice from your doctor or other medical professional.

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