New Study Ranks Minnesota As The Happiest State In America

Minnesota is a great place to live, and a new study is showing just how true that is. I love living in Minnesota; we might (rightfully) complain about our brutal winters, but there are so many other reasons why the North Star State is one of the best in the country. And besides, you can admit it; it’s kind of fun when we get to brag to our out-of-state friends about how we bravely survive our tough winters. “Oh, you live in Washington, D.C. where they practically shut the whole city down after half an inch of snowfall? How cute.”

So yeah, I’m overall quite happy here. And according to WalletHub, Minnesota actually ranked #1 in a new list titled “2017’s Happiest States in America.”

Why are Minnesotans so happy?

This list took a lot of different metrics into account in order to calculate “happiness”. The list below shows just how we did, with 1 being the happiest and 25 being average:

• 5^th – Emotional & Physical Well-Being
• 23^rd - % of Depressed Adults
• 3^rd – Adequate-Sleep Rate (that’s debatable for me, personally!)
• 14^th – Suicide Rate
• 22^nd – Long-Term Unemployment Rate
• 8^th – Number of Work Hours
• 3^rd – Volunteer Rate
• 10^th – Income Growth
• 4^th – Safety
• 3^rd – Lowest Divorce Rate

Not bad! While it does look like there are a couple areas that could use improvement, it’s always nice to get confirmation that Minnesota is a great place to live. I'm satisfied with this ranking - how about you?

Source: WalletHub