Are you happy? Are you, for example, as happy as the citizens of these 10 cities, ranked by as having the highest scores for Overall Well-Being, according to Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index?
1. Provo-Orem, Utah
2. Boulder, Colo.
3. Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.
4. Honolulu, Hawaii
5. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
6. Ann Arbor, Mich.
7. Naples-Marco Island, Fla.
8. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif.
9. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.
10. Lincoln, Neb.
Out of 189 metropolitan areas across the country, Provo wins! It seems Provo, home to Brigham Young University, might be one of those quietly awesome places to live; it’s consistently been in the top four in Gallup’s annual poll, and it’s gotten a few other honors, too: Forbes recently rated it as one of the best places to raise a family, U.S. News and World Report recently named it one of the 10 best cities for creative jobs, and National Geographic named it one of six "cultural hubs" for outdoorsy types.
If you’re feeling like there’s a new survey out every other month naming Nation’s Happiest or Fittest or Healthiest — you’re not wrong. (Just back in January, we had this ranking from the American College of Sports Medicine.) But this survey is one of the largest around; Gallup conducted more than 500,000 interviews with people around the country, who answered questions about aspects of their well-being including their health, their work and the safety of their community.
Other interesting findings from the Gallup survey:
- Honolulu has the best “emotional health,” and has been in the top two in that category every year the survey has been done.
- The major U.S. cities with the highest well-being rankings were San Jose, San Francisco and Washington D.C.
And here are the bottom 10 communities as measured by the Gallup-Healthways survey:
180. Evansville, Ind.-Ky.
181. Mobile, Ala.
182. Shreveport-Bossier City, La.
183. Columbus, Ga., Ala.
184. Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas
185. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, N.C.
186. Spartanburg, S.C.
187. Redding, Calif.
188. Charleston, W.Va.
189. Huntington-Ashland, W.Va.-Ky.-Ohio