Best & Worst States In U.S. For Your Well-being

Top 25 States

In 2014, Alaska topped the rankings for the first time; Alaska has ranked in the top 10 four times in seven years. Alaska is the only state to rank in the top 10 in all five elements and ranks first in purpose well-being.

While Alaska holds top honors, Hawaii, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana round out the top five. Hawaii and Colorado are the only states that have been in the top 10 every year since 2008. Ten others — Montana, Utah, Minnesota, Nebraska, Alaska, North Dakota, Iowa, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming — have ranked in the top 10 at least three times.

The biggest jumps up?

Bottom 25 States

Kentucky and West Virginia continue to have the lowest well-being in the nation, ranking 49th and 50th respectively for six straight years. Arkansas, Mississippi and Ohio also have consistently low well-being.

The biggest jumps down?

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Methodology

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index® includes more than 2.1 million surveys and captures how people feel about and experience their daily lives. Levels of well-being correlate with healthcare (utilization and cost) and productivity measures (absenteeism, presenteeism and job performance), all critical to organizational and economic competitiveness.

Purpose: Liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals.

Social: Having supportive relationships and love in your life.

Financial: Managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security.

Community: Liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community.

Physical: Having good health and enough energy to get things done daily.

These data are based on 176,702 interviews with U.S. adults across all 50 states, conducted from January 2 to December 30, 2014. Gallup conducts 500 telephone interviews a day with American adults, for a resulting sample that projects to an estimated 95 percent of all U.S. adults. The Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where zero represents the lowest possible well-being and 100 represents the highest possible well-being. Visit wbi.healthways.com to learn more.