Bookmark and Share

Utah Travel Headlines

Monday, March 07, 2011

Utah Ranks Among Happiest States In US

Livescience.com has two interesting articles ranking the happiness factor of American states. This one ranks Utah as the happiest in the US. Using different criteria, this study ranked Utah at #5. It is interesting to compare the studies.

The first study had this conclusion: "On average, well-being was highest in the Mountain states and West Coast states, followed by the Eastern Seaboard and then the Midwest and Southern states." That was largely based on the idea that people are happier where their needs are met, where states offer jobs and infrastructure, diversity and opportunity for creativity.

The second study also considered a self-evaluation factor, with this conclusion: "In addition to rating the smile factor of U.S. states, the research also proved for the first time that a person's self-reported happiness matches up with objective measures of well-being. Essentially, if an individual says they're happy, they are."

"Their results come from a comparison of two data sets of happiness levels in each state, one that relied on participants' self-reported well-being and the other an objective measure that took into account a state's weather, home prices and other factors that are known reasons to frown (or smile). The self-reported information came from 1.3 million U.S. citizens who took part in a survey between 2005 and 2008."

Any way you look at it, Utah ranks well because of our strong economy, great natural environment and friendly people.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Back to top Print this page E-mail this page