Modern Vespa

See where yours ranks here:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html

Illinois #45.... just wonderful

Interesting! I'm living in #8 but lived for 30 years in #46 (CA). We like where we live in SC (15 miles below the Blue Ridge Mountains) but we liked CA better. CA is waaaaaay move expensive for housing, land and just about everything else so that's why we moved. We don't miss the heavy traffic and the high prices but if the cost to live in both were equal, we would move back in a skinny minute.

1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Tennessee
5. Arizona
6. Mississippi
7. Montana
8. South Carolina
9. Alabama
10. Maine
11. Alaska
12. North Carolina
13. Wyoming
14. Idaho
15. South Dakota
16. Texas
17. Arkansas
18. Vermont
19. Georgia
20. Oklahoma
21. Colorado
22. Delaware
23. Utah
24. New Mexico
25. North Dakota
26. Minnesota
27. New Hampshire
28. Virginia
29. Wisconsin
30. Oregon
31. Iowa
32. Kansas
33. Nebraska
34. West Virginia
35. Kentucky
36. Washington
37. District of Columbia
38. Missouri
39. Nevada
40. Maryland
41. Pennsylvania
42. Rhode Island
43. Massachusetts
44. Ohio
45. Illinois
46. California
47. Indiana
48. Michigan
49. New Jersey
50. Connecticut
51. New York


Oh yes were so Unhappy here in #46 but everyone still wants to live here, hmmm who did this poll,

29th, which is surprising, as 60% of the population here is loaded at any given time.

California 46 and New York 51?

I don't think so, I really don't.

Its going to be 75 here today, I have to go out now and have another shitty day.

SDG

SDG

Very interesting! I would not have guessed that Louisiana would have been at the top of that list and that Alaska would be up there as well. Is there something those of you in the top 10 states want to share with the rest of the group?

Weird, I remember from a similar list on an AOL article that my present state, Florida, was almost dead last. A quick Google search brought me to another Live Science report with different results. See below. A score of 100 is just giddy, so Utah comes closest.

1. Utah: 69.2
2. Hawaii: 68.2
3. Wyoming: 68
4. Colorado: 67.3
5. Minnesota: 67.3
6. Maryland: 67.1
7. Washington: 67.1
8. Massachusetts: 67
9. California: 67
10. Arizona: 66.8
11. Idaho: 66.8
12. Montana: 66.7
13. New Hampshire: 66.7
14. Vermont: 66.6
15. Virginia: 66.5
16. Nebraska: 66.4
17. New Mexico: 66.3
18. Oregon: 66.3
19. Connecticut: 66.3
20. Alaska : 66.2
21. Texas: 66.1
22. Kansas: 66.1
23. Georgia: 66.0
24. Wisconsin: 65.9
25. New Jersey: 65.8
26. South Carolina: 65.7
27. Iowa: 65.6 - 27/50
28. North Dakota: 65.5
29. Maine: 65.5 - 29/50
30. Florida: 65.3 - 30/50
31. Illinois: 65.2 - 31/50
32. Pennsylvania: 64.9
33. Alabama: 64.9
34. North Carolina: 64.8
35. New York: 64.7
36. Delaware: 64.7
37. Rhode Island: 64.6
38. Nevada: 64.5
39. South Dakota: 64.3
40. Louisiana: 64.2
41. Michigan: 64.0
42. Tennessee: 64.0
43. Oklahoma: 64.0
44. Missouri: 63.8
45. Indiana: 63.3
46. Arkansas: 62.9
47. Ohio: 62.8
48. Mississippi: 61.9
49. Kentucky: 61.4
50. West Virginia: 61.2

well virginia is middle of the pack but my favorite state in the union is ranked no.8

Puerto Rico is the second Happiest Country in the whole world:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7487143.stm

United States is 16th.

I'm a New Yorker and I'm friggin' happy, damnit!
We're on the bottom? Those polls can go f!#* themselves!
(just kidding... I am happy though...)

Why #8, you like biteing flys and freezing rain?
Compared to sunny and warm weather. At laest
California came in #9 on this poll. Who the Hell
is doing this line-up?

If New York City was eliminated from the state, the state of New York would probably rank very high.

Mine is more a state of depresion with the weather lately. Rain, rain then more rain. Three inches predicted today and already over 20 inches above average annual rain fall. Not as much fun for riding. Currently 36F, hard rain and 35 mph wind. I wimped out and rode my truck in today.

The woods are too wet for loggers to work forcing the sawmill to put people on unemployment until there are logs in the mill to process. Mill has not run for a week and we have not received enough logs for one full day's run. Loggers sawmillers and truckers all getting short pay checks at Christmas. On the bright side at least we are not one of the mills down long term.

Damn right we still are number two!!!! Puerto Rico lo hace mejor.

New Orleans was ranked as one of the top 3 worst places to live and Louisiana is ranked #1? WTF?

because most people have to live in the actual city, not the french quarter.

I live in #3 Florida. Maybe it's because of all the Florida sunshine and year-round scooting weather. 8)

Alabama (my home state), Louisiana and Mississippi are always ranked worse on terms of education, health, etc. Maybe the old saying "Igorance is bliss" is correct!

Alabama goes from 33 to 9 in the two lists. Probably has to do with Hunting season, or gulf coast happy stuff floating arriving in bales. Or... may be Alabama Football...

Sure not to do with the weather. December is over 12 inches of rain and is a record. Been tough scootering but I'm taking the inside time to order toys - Vespa rear crash bars, Jettin bar ends, Trailer in a bag, Battery tender, and working on headlight modulater (probably a comagination). Merry Christmas to me!!!

Guess I'm contributing to Happy Alabama?

I dont know how Delaware ranked above Utah

Some of the happiest, nice friendly people I have ever met were in Utah. A lot more scooters there too

The poll mentioned that to took into consideration the cost of living and assumed if the cost of living were high it would degrade on the "Happy" factor. It looks to me like the highest cost states are at the high end of the list I would have to assume the it is the highest cost of living where people are happy to live and will make the extra effort required to live the.

California has a such a vast range of lifestyles from urban to some of the with less than one person per acre.

It's based partially on polls, and partially on other information which is ASSUMED to translate to happiness, like average housing costs and the like. I wouldn't get too hung up on the poll results... surveys are often biased, and unless I see a direct relationship between cost of living, etc in each and every state WITH the happiness ratings, I think the data are fairly meaningless. It is a very poor study which collapses two disparate data sets like this to yield one result.

Arizona #5
Georgia #19

That explains why I am so happy.

ha ha ha yes.

New York #51

Wow, comforting to know it's wasn't just me.........

OK... OK.... I have to step in here for a second and defend my home town...

New Orleans is a GREAT place to live... Although, Most of us with families live just outside of "New Orleans proper."

As a 5th generation Native New Orleanian that has travelled to many other fine locales, I can attest that every city has it's own unique charm and idiosyncrasies. Like most others, there is no place like home, that is, your familiar surroundings. For New Orleanians, it is as much about that familiarity as it is about our local flair for life. Our city is often ranked in the top five cities from a culinary standpoint, plays host to the largest party in the world year after year (Mardi Gras), is home to many unique historical destinations (plantation homes, one of the oldest cathedrals in the U.S., significant battlefields, etc...)

It is the birth place of Jazz, a VERY musical city indeed with our own Symphony, Ballet, and a Full season Opera Company (the second oldest opera company in the U.S.). We are home to the nations premier Jazz Festival and a top ten International Piano Competition. We are also in the top 5 list for port cities in the U.S., and that is to just list a few.

Yes we have our issues, many of which were put on public display during hurricane Katrina, but a more resilient people you would be hard pressed to find short of New York City and Oklahoma City. Please also consider that the national media knows that bad news and drama is what will keep people glued to the tube... for every bad story that you have heard about our city, there are hundreds more that are stories of community, good will, and people helping their fellow man at a time of need.

(soap box out)

Lastly, it is 62 degrees and sunny here today... I am happily riding my MP3 400 today and the outlook for the weekend is sunny with highs in the upper 50's and lower 60's...

oh yeah,... GO SAINTS...

Hah!
Now living in #8, after moving out from #49

The list makes sense to me

The stress of living in a broke, high-cost state (like CA & NY) and in the current economy
has been making lots of folks miserable

Perdoname, pero la ultima vez que chequie, Puelto Lico no es oficialmente un pais.

#2! Happy...Happy...Happy!

IMHO...still a lot of room for improvement...

+1
I had such a nasty commute today It was gorgeous sunny, low fifties. At lunch, it was a miserable sunny day at 73

"The results are based on [amongst other things] objective measures, such as how crowded that state is, air quality, home prices and other factors known to impact quality of life."

That explains the shitty position of places like NY or CA. And while "everybody" wants to live there, it is that those "everybodies" don't yet and therefore don't know yet how shitty it will be, once they made the move

Since PR is a Commonwealth Territory of the United States, that probably explains why PR is #2 and not #1

Well, I'll agree that life is pretty good here in South Carolina, ..... but not today. It has been raining all day, the high temp was 40 degrees, the wind is blowing, my dogs are depressed, my Vespa doesn't even want to look out the garage door, and my normally adventurous cat refuses to go outside.

.... But, I am not shovelling snow and I really feel bad for people living further up the coast who are about to get hammered with a nasty storm.

On the other hand, the wife is baking cookies!!

Heh!

Yeah... I was out riding the Vespa in that
It was just like being back in NJ--yet another reason it's #49

OK and Alaska ranked #1 in USA states for suicides.

I just watched a Discovery or History channel special on this.


How is Alaska ranked #11?


There are tons of shows on cable now showing how much harder life is in Alaska.

They even have a Series called "It's Tougher in Alaska."

To me that doesn't seem so happy?

Maybe they're depressed drunks?!

Vinny

WE WON! 51!!! beat CT by one point...

john

I understand the Oklahoma thing. I used to live there

As for Alaska, I wonder if they took this poll at a time when people could actually sleep. Anyone seen Insomnia? Maybe everyone in the state is bipolar. I know I wouldn't be happy if a certain someone were my governor. Although, they should be happy now. And why am I talking? Texas has had 2 idiots for governors lately