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States ranked from happiest to least cheerful
Seattle PI ^ | 12/17/09 | staff

Posted on 12/17/2009 1:50:59 PM PST by pissant

WASHINGTON -- A new study found that people who report more satisfaction with their lives live in states that score well on things like good schools, low crime and short commuting time, perhaps a first objective look at why some states are happier than others.

The state-by-state list, from happiest to least cheery:

1. Louisiana

2. Hawaii

3. Florida

4. Tennessee

5. Arizona

(snip)

45. Illinois

46. California

47. New Jersey

48. Indiana

49. Michigan

50. Connecticut

51. New York

(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: happiness
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To: cardinal4

I’d be happy in a tiny apartment if I had high speed internet and a never ending supply of Ramen Noodles. heh.


61 posted on 12/17/2009 2:08:43 PM PST by GeronL
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To: Cicero

Well, I am pretty sure that “A new study found that...” was the same professional, reliable organization that ‘discovered’ that mammograms are probably the secret cause of breast cancer......


62 posted on 12/17/2009 2:11:47 PM PST by ransomnote
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To: STE=Q

A year ago, we made the decision to move from Illinois (#45)to Alabama (#9). Best move I ever made.


63 posted on 12/17/2009 2:12:17 PM PST by sillsfan (Reagan and Sarah are right- WE win, they lose!)
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To: swain_forkbeard

By my count, 19 of the lower 25 are blue states.


64 posted on 12/17/2009 2:12:53 PM PST by Dionysius (Jingoism is no vice in these troubled times.)
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To: cripplecreek
You must be "That Guy" who walks around the grocery store with a grin.


/grin

65 posted on 12/17/2009 2:14:51 PM PST by MaxMax (Obamao can't play in the Olympic reindeer games)
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To: kabar

“Sun?”

Yup! Ohio-#43. Sun went down in early October. May rise again sometime in May.


66 posted on 12/17/2009 2:16:02 PM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: swain_forkbeard

Only the airport! I was referring to the political corruption.


67 posted on 12/17/2009 2:18:33 PM PST by iowamark
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To: GeronL
When I live there I called it the Mardi Gras Mentality. Everyday’s a party or a parade.
68 posted on 12/17/2009 2:19:09 PM PST by Recon Dad ( USMC SSgt Patrick O - 3rd Afghanistan Deployment - Day 58)
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To: rdl6989

“Well since Indiana is at #48 on the list I might want to move to Tennessee someday.”

With one foot in Tennessee and the other in Mississippi I’m sitting pretty.


69 posted on 12/17/2009 2:20:23 PM PST by billhilly
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To: pissant
1. Louisiana

Uh...Is this....the happiest state?

That noise is nervous laughter across the landscape....

70 posted on 12/17/2009 2:22:08 PM PST by dragnet2
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To: saganite
God, I have been doing it backwards! Next you’re going to tell me to peel the shrimp before I eat them!
71 posted on 12/17/2009 2:22:20 PM PST by Recon Dad ( USMC SSgt Patrick O - 3rd Afghanistan Deployment - Day 58)
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To: stylecouncilor

#6

“Is you’all from the south, Sir?”


72 posted on 12/17/2009 2:30:58 PM PST by onedoug
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To: pissant
There is probably a correlation between happiness and political outlook. The liberal states (those with high public spending and the high tax burdens they bring) are that way because the electorate expects others, in this case the public sector, to provide them with everything.

This mentality expresses itself on the personal level with an expectation that one's happiness is dependent on others as well. If you expect someone else to make you happy, you're never, ever, going to be happy.

Keep waiting for city, the state, or Uncle Sam to bring you happiness.

73 posted on 12/17/2009 2:35:04 PM PST by Oratam
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To: pissant
Arkansas is now #18. The Toons and the Huckster left. ;0)
74 posted on 12/17/2009 2:35:42 PM PST by seemoAR
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To: sillsfan

A good move, but don’t make Alabama like Illinois. Please!


75 posted on 12/17/2009 2:38:35 PM PST by truthguy (Good intentions are not enough!)
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To: pissant

What????

Louisiana is happiest????

Oh wait, why wouldn’t they be with all those federal dollars from hurricane katrina, brad pitt’s hoax, and many many more, and Landruie’s. And to think, we were told they could never recover, all was lost, forever....

Oh wait, Boooosh isn’t in office any more, they can be happy now, right?


76 posted on 12/17/2009 2:39:29 PM PST by Freddd (CNN is not credible.)
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To: ClearBlueSky

ClearBlueSky:

Well perhaps people are happy because despite all the stuff going on in the world, Louisiana is still a state which revives around Tradition, i.e. what G.K. Chesterton described as the Democracy of the Dead, paying attention to our ancestors rather than an arrogant oligarchy that happens to be living at this time.. Yes, there are problems here but most Louisiana cultural and festivals and events revive around Family and Religion, and thus while economics, wars, education, etc, etc, and the related probems rage on, people here have a different take on a life.

So perhaps people here are happy because it is still a state that with the higest religous observation in the country as documented by a 2006 Gallup poll/study which indicated that Louisiana has 58% of its residents who attend Church regularly. This is a pattern that is consistent in other Southern States. So while the average Louisiana citizen may not be as rich as say some Californian or New Yorker, perhaps they are happy and thankful for what God has given them.

So in closing, I think Louisiana citizens demonstrate a higher degree of happiness because of 1) Faith, 2) Family ties and 3) a Distinctive cultural, derived from the French and Spainish, with some influence from the English after we became a state, which tries not to take life too seriously although one can also criticize the excesses of this that somtimes occurs in New Orleans.


77 posted on 12/17/2009 2:45:11 PM PST by CTrent1564
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To: pissant
California is just stoned.

NY is hung over.

And Texas was too busy having a party to respond.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

78 posted on 12/17/2009 2:45:57 PM PST by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
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To: stylecouncilor

South Carolina is #6.


79 posted on 12/17/2009 2:47:42 PM PST by windcliff
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To: pissant
Here's another survey, though, from Gallup:

1. Utah: 69.2
2. Hawaii: 68.2
3. Wyoming: 68
4. Colorado: 67.3
5. Minnesota: 67.3
6. Maryland: 67.1
7. Washington: 67.1
8. Massachusetts: 67
9. California: 67
10. Arizona: 66.8
...
...
40. Louisiana: 64.2
41. Michigan: 64.0
42. Tennessee: 64.0
43. Oklahoma: 64.0
44. Missouri: 63.8
45. Indiana: 63.3
46. Arkansas: 62.9
47. Ohio: 62.8
48. Mississippi: 61.9
49. Kentucky: 61.4
50. West Virginia: 61.2

And there's also a survey of the "most financially happy states":

Nebraska
Iowa
Kansas
Hawaii
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Wyoming
South Dakota
West Virginia
Wisconsin
...
...
Rhode Island
Nevada
California
Oregon

It all depends on what you measure. Hawaii looks pretty happy all around, though.

80 posted on 12/17/2009 2:49:56 PM PST by x
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