North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska are the top three best places to live in the U.S., while Mississippi, Kentucky, and West Virginia are the three worst, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index for 2013 suggests.
The ranking was the result of data gathered from over 178,000 interviews across the country, which focused on Americans' perceptions on a broad range of topics which included, among others, access to necessities, financial security, the quality of the community and social life, and work environment. The Index is already up, but the full report will be available in April.
North Dakota was nineteenth in 2012's Index, South Dakota was twelfth, and Nebraska was seventh. In 2013, all three rose to the top of the list.
North Dakota scored 70.4 in the Index, and topped the ranking in physical health and work environment. South Dakota followed closely with a score of 70.0, while Nebraska scored 69.7.
Minnesota is fourth in 2013, down from third place in 2012. In fifth place is Montana, rising one place from the sixth place last year. Vermont dropped one place from fifth in 2012 to sixth in 2013. Colorado experienced a significant drop from second place in 2012 to seventh place in 2013. Hawaii was number one in 2012, but in 2013 it's only the 8th best place to live. Washington experienced a climb from fifteenth place in 2012 to ninth place in 2013, while Iowa dropped one place from ninth in 2012 to tenth in 2013.
These top ten states - North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Montana, Vermont, Colorado, Hawaii, Washington, and Iowa - stood out in the interviews as the places in which their residents are extremely pleased about their own well-being. Massachusetts, for instance, is known for giving the greatest access to health insurance, and this has influenced the opinion of its residents. Likewise, Vermont residents are known to eat more produce than residents of any other state, a fact that also influenced how residents of Vermont viewed their state of well-being there.
"States that score high in well-being have achieved success in creating environments where people can live their best lives, something that goes far beyond physical wellness and traditional health risk factors," said Dan Witters, research director of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. "Individuals in these states are motivated to achieve their goals, enjoy what they do each day, feel safe and financially secure, have pride in their communities, and have the supportive relationships and good health they need to get things done each day."
The Index is published yearly by Healthways, a global leader in well-being improvement, and Gallup, a world-leading management consulting firm, as part of a partnership that started in 2008. The Index, now in its sixth year, is a definitive measure and empiric database of real-time changes in well-being throughout the world, providing in-depth insight into the well-being of populations in certain locations.
"Measuring well-being ultimately helps organizations systematically improve well-being because measurement helps organizations establish a baseline, determine where they should invest resources and then identify the impact of those investments," said James E. Pope, M.D., senior vice president and chief science officer at Healthways.
