What State is the Happiest: Iowa, Illinois, or Wisconsin?
A new study from the website Mental Health Rehabs ranked all 50 states in terms of how "happy" their residents are. As it turns out, not one but two of the Tri-States came in the top 10 ranking of states with the happiest residents!
Before we discuss the findings, how does one quantify happiness? Researchers at Mental Health Rehabs compared the percentage of people over 18 who were told they have some form of depression (using the CDC for stats) relative to the overall population.
With that data, it was determined that Hawaii was the happiest state in the country with 12.5% of its population reporting a form of depression. That's slightly over 180,000 people compared to its population of 1.4 million.
Mental Health Rehabs drew the conclusion that Hawaii's abundance of natural beauty, access to the ocean, and other factors were a reason that their depression rates were comparatively lower than in other states.
How Happy is Iowa?:
Meanwhile, Iowa came in as the ninth happiest state in the US. About 18.5% of Iowa residents have been diagnosed with some form of depression. Iowa's population is about 3.2 million people, meaning that figure encompasses roughly 592,00 residents in the state. There's obviously work to be done in the mental health realm of Iowa, but to see it rank highly in this study is still a positive.
The Happiest State in the Midwest is...:
Shockingly, it was Illinois that placed the highest of all three of our states! Illinois came in at #4 on the list with only 17.7% of the population being diagnosed with depression. Illinois' population is 12.5 million people, meaning about 2.2 million have depression.
Mental Health Rehabs chalked up Illinois' high ranking to the diverse assortment of cultural and recreational opportunities available in/around Chicago. I can attest. Growing up in the western suburbs of the city, there are an abundance of resources in terms of food, shopping, restaurants, indoor/outdoor activities, and more.
| Top 10 Happiest States: | ||||
| State | Percentage of people with depression | Population | Number of people with depression | Rank |
| Hawaii | 12.5 | 1,440,196 | 180,025 | 1 |
| New Jersey | 14.6 | 9,261,699 | 1,352,208 | 2 |
| Nebraska | 17 | 1,967,923 | 334,547 | 3 |
| Illinois | 17.7 | 12,582,032 | 2,227,020 | 4 |
| Florida | 17.8 | 22,244,823 | 3,959,578 | = 5 |
| New York | 17.8 | 19,677,151 | 3,502,533 | = 5 |
| South Dakota | 17.9 | 909,824 | 162,858 | 6 |
| Nevada | 18 | 3,177,772 | 571,999 | 7 |
| Maryland | 18.1 | 6,164,660 | 1,115,803 | = 8 |
| California | 18.1 | 39,029,342 | 7,064,311 | = 8 |
| Iowa | 18.5 | 3,200,517 | 592,096 | 9 |
| Georgia | 19.2 | 10,912,876 | 2,095,272 | 10 |
READ ABOUT HOW IOWANS ARE SOME OF THE MOST FRUGAL PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES.
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