Happiest States In America 2018: See Where Yours Ranked

Unsplash/Chris Osmond

For better or worse, we, as a culture, are constantly striving for happiness. Sometimes, it manifests in achieving a personal sense of work-life balance. Other times, we think we’ve hit that sweet spot when our salaries reach a certain threshold. But no matter what you prioritize, that enduring sense of life satisfaction comes from a combination of internal and external factors, and a lot of those factors are heavily dependent on where you live.

WalletHub just released its 2018 rankings of the happiest states in America, which assessed residents’ emotional and physical well-being, work environments and local communities and environments. Taking into consideration 31 relevant metrics across these three dimensions, the personal finance website ranked each state within each category and then across the board with average scores.

Unsurprisingly, Hawaii claimed the top spot as the happiest U.S. state. It earned the highest individual score for emotional and physical well-being, and it took fourth place when it came to community and environment. Interestingly, Utah followed pretty closely behind, snagging the highest individual score for work environments. And oh-so-nice Minnesota claimed third place, ranking within the top 10 in each of the three main categories.

Unsplash/Toa Heftiba

Here are the 10 happiest states in America in 2018:

1. Hawaii
2. Utah
3. Minnesota
4. North Dakota
5. California
6. Idaho
7. Maryland
8. Iowa
9. South Dakota
10. Nebraska

And on the other end of the spectrum, Louisiana (48), Arkansas (49) and West Virginia (50) rounded out the bottom of the list when it came to the averaged happiness scores.

When reviewing the new data, a few of the issue-specific metrics caught our eye. For instance, New York exhibits the lowest rates of adult depression while Oregon has the highest. And Hawaii might be thriving, but its residents’ sleep quality is the worst on the list, with South Dakota actually claiming the top spot. Oh, and remember how Utah had the best scores for its work environments? Well, people also spend the fewest hours in the week at work in this northwestern state. Dare we say, four-day workweeks and unlimited vacay?

We all value each of these lifestyle factors to different extents, so if you’re planning on relocating at some point in the near future, it’s worth taking a look at what your future state prioritizes and ask yourself if that’s what you need in order to thrive as well. Because if you find your perfect match, you won’t need a list of state rankings to tell you how happy you are.

These Are The Top 10 Startups In 2018, According To LinkedIn