Move Over, Hawaii! The King Is Back!

1. Nice try, Hawaii. You gave it a good shot, and had the crown for a year, but you messed with the king, and now it's time for you to pay the price.

After surrendering to the Aloha state, Utah is back on top as the Happiest State in the Country according to the yearly rankings from WalletHub. (I know, just yesterday, I said I needed to stop reading these things.)

I mean, Hawaii may have those gorgeous beaches, laid back atmosphere and warm tropical climate, but can that really compete with unlimited green Jello, statewide obstacle courses we call roads filled with potholes and the joy of shoveling the driveway.....again.

No, once again, Utah made mincemeat of the competition and is back on top as the happiest place in the nation.

So how did we do it? The folks at WalletHub used three key dimensions, and Utah was tops in two or those three. The dimensions were Emotional and Physical Well Being, Work Environment and Community and Environment. WalletHub then applied 30 metrics to those dimensions to come up with the rankings.

Utah was top in the dimensions of Work Environment and Community and Environment. But in Emotional and Physical Well Being, we only rated as the 16^th best. Hawaii led the way in that dimension.

Some of the metrics were interesting. Utah was first in the fewest “mean work hours” (need to talk to my boss about this one), had the lowest divorce rate in the country and and the highest volunteer rate. We were tied for 3^rd in the sports participation metric. Utah showed up 4^th, just ahead of Hawaii, in terms of the safest state.

There were also some interesting takeaways about other states in the rankings. North and South Dakota had the lowest long term un-employment rates. Colorado had the highest adequate sleep rate. Hawaii had the lowest share of adult depression. New Jersey had the lowest suicide rate. Maybe that's because Chris Christie isn't the governor any more.

All in all we seem like we are in a pretty happy state when it comes to living in Utah. And when you think about it, there really is a lot around here to be happy about. Beautiful landscapes and natural beauty. We've got great skiing practically out our back door. Our economy continues to grow, so I can see why we are happy here.

Wouldn't mind those beaches, though.

Check out the WalletHub You Tube video making the announcement below.