Are You Happy? Study Says If You Live In Massachusetts, You Should Be

I've got something to ask, Berkshire County residents. Are you a happy person? I get that everyone, even your most upbeat and optimistic Professor Positive has a bad day now and again, but overall, are you happy with where you are in life and with the choices you've made?

Well, you should be, according to a new study conducted by our good friends at WalletHub. That's right, folks. WalletHub did a recent study looking at the happiest and least happy states, and the Bay State ranks in the top 20.

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To determine where in the country people were the happiest and most satisfied with life, the personal-finance website WalletHub compared all 50 states across several key indicators of happiness. Indicators such as career satisfaction, physical health, getting enough sleep, mental health, unemployment, life expectancy, weather, and more.

As always, the results were quite surprising. Massachusetts ranked at #14 overall for happiest states. Several key factors for the Commonwealth led to that #14th placing. Massachusetts has the 3rd lowest suicide rate in the country. That's huge.

The Bay State is also the 7th safest state in the country and is ranked 5th for fewest work hours. Other key factors Massachusetts did fairly well in include income growth(9th), separation and divorce rate(11th), percentage of adults suffering from depression(19th), and adequate sleep rate(also 19th).

We know Massachusetts came in at #14, but what states made the top 10? Excellent question and here are the results according to WalletHub's study:

1. Hawaii(Honestly, that's not a surprise to me. I lived there back in the day and would give anything to go back!)
2. Maryland
3. Minnesota
4. Utah
5. New Jersey
6. Idaho
7. California
8. Illinois
9. Nebraska
10. Connecticut

I find it interesting that only one New England state made the top 10(and just barely) with Connecticut sneaking in at #10. The next highest New England state was New Hampshire which is right next to Massachusetts, coming in at #15.

That's it as far as the New England states that placed in the top 20. The next highest New England state is Maine at #24, followed by Rhode Island at #28. The lowest-ranked New England state is Vermont, believe it or not. Our neighbor to the north ranked at #34.

BTW, the top 5 least happy states are as follows:

1. West Virginia
2. Louisiana
3. Arkansas
4. Kentucky
5. Alabama

And I thought this was worth mentioning. The state of Wyoming is apparently neither happy nor unhappy. They're on the fence right in the middle of the list at #25. For the complete study plus more fun facts and cool data, visit WalletHub's website here.