Be Happy. CT is ranked ninteenth in National Survey

For the third year in a row, the Aloha State gets is the happiest U.S. state, with Hawaii residents scoring highest in the 2012 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.  Runners-up? North Dakota and Minnesota. Down towards the middle of the pack was Connecticut, at #19, sandwiched between Washington State and Oregon.  West Virginia's residents showed the lowest well-being scores. To understand state well-being, Gallup relied on six measures: life evaluation (self-evaluation about your present life situation and anticipated one in five years); emotional health; work environment (such as job satisfaction); physical health; healthy behavior; and basic access (access to health care, a doctor, a safe place to exercise and walk, and community satisfaction).

The telephone survey was carried out in 2011 and included a random sample of 353,492 adults, ages 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.  The top ten:

•  Hawaii: 70.2
• North Dakota: 70.0
• Minnesota: 69.2
• Utah: 69.0
• Alaska: 69.0
• Colorado: 68.4
• Kansas: 68.4
• Nebraska: 68.3
• New Hampshire: 68.2
• Montana: 68.0