"Where is Happyville, USA?"

[demoleft]

"It might not seem obvious, but apparently the happiest state in the US is Louisiana. That's despite New Orleans being drowned in 2005 by hurricane Katrina. More predictably, Hawaii came second and Florida third in the first ever league table of US happiness.

...

The league table is based on two data sets. One came from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System which, from 2005, has asked 1.3 million Americans the question: "How satisfied are you with your life?"

The second came from a survey in 2003 by Stuart Gabriel of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, which considered objective indicators of quality of life such as sunshine, violent crime, air quality, environmental "greenness" and so on.
..."

here's the league table of states:

1. Louisiana

2. Hawaii

3. Florida

4. Tennessee

5. Arizona

6. Mississippi

7. Montana

8. South Carolina

9. Alabama

10. Maine

11. Alaska

12. North Carolina

13. Wyoming

14. Idaho

15. South Dakota

16. Texas

17. Arkansas

18. Vermont

19. Georgia

20. Oklahoma

21. Colorado

22. Delaware

23. Utah

24. New Mexico

25. North Dakota

26. Minnesota

27. New Hampshire

28. Virginia

29. Wisconsin

30. Oregon

31. Iowa

32. Kansas

33. Nebraska

34. West Virginia

35. Kentucky

36. Washington

37. District of Columbia

38. Missouri

39. Nevada

40. Maryland

41. Pennsylvania

42. Rhode Island

43. Massachusetts

44. Ohio

45. Illinois

46. California

47. Indiana

48. Michigan

49. New Jersey

50. Connecticut

51. New York


don't miss the comments there, at the bottom of the page.
the source: new scientist.
the link:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/12/where-is-happyville-usa.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

[calico1]

1. I can tellyou one reason why Ct is the second most unhappy

State. I'll give you a hint...it starts with"L."

[virgogal]

3. Lyme Disease? :-)

[calico1]

9. I wish it were as pleasant as Lyme...

[virgogal]

2. Hmmmm. It also says conservatives are generally happier

than liberals.

Who knew?

[demoleft]

6. did you see the comment there that says...

"funny to see how republican states seem to be doing better then democratic states as far happiness goes...
perhaps republican are just happy fools :P"

hehe.

[virgogal]

7. Yeah----that's why I ignore most studies and surveys.

[madokie]

4. If there is such a critter it would have to be in Arizona

They got some strange named towns there

[Lasher]

5. Have you ever been to New Orleans?

Lord have mercy, they built that place just for me! They encourage, nay expect, you do walk around with an alcoholic beverage in hand and they give you crawldads to eat. It's heaven on earth, I say! Maybe it's best I didn't get around to going there until I had achieved a certain age.

But for me Happyville is right here in my little corner of West Virginia. Got my friends and family, got my health so to speak. Life is good.

Lasher

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. Right next to Cheneyville, yes it does exist and I am very happy

I don't live there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheneyville,_Louisiana
The median income for a household in the town was $19,044, and the median income for a family was $21,917. Males had a median income of $21,250 versus $12,159 for females. The per capita income for the town was $10,244. About 29.4% of families and 43.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 46.2% of those under age 18 and 27.0% of those age 65 or over.

[Turbineguy]

11. 36. I'm so happy

I could just shit!

[Ruby the Liberal]

12. 2003, Bush in year 2 of 8, no Katrina

How is this even relevant?

Edit -- and depending on WHEN in 2005 they surveyed the other piece, how many people had a home to live in, much less a phone/internet/whatever to answer the poll (assuming it was even after Katrina)?