Hawaii grabbed the top spot in a poll of the happiest place to live in 2009, beating out former #1 Utah. 350,000 American adults were interviewed and scores were averaged over six sub-categories: 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; basic access (access to healthcare, a doctor, a safe place to exercise and walk, as well as community satisfaction). This is in contrast to another happiness poll where States were ranked by economic poll (Hawaii ranked 21st).

I think happiness is subjective and difficult to quantify, and it’s pretty silly when you think about actually ranking States by an emotional expression. I guess I’m happy that Hawaii came in #1, and got a little publicity, but I feel bad for the States that ranked low (especially when you consider how little the scores varied). The complete ranking can be found here.

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