Maryland Ranked Eighth Happiest State in U.S.

There’s a new study that looks at happiness in states across the country, and Maryland, you’ll be happy to know, ranks eighth. Last year, Maryland was ranked seventh.

The finance website, WalletHub.com, ranks Utah(#2), Minnesota(#3), California(#4), and New Jersey (#5) in the top five happiest states. The number one state on the list is Hawaii.

According to WalletHub, happiness is the result of a number of aspects including emotional well-being and job satisfaction.

WalletHub compared the 50 states in the following three key areas:

1. Emotional and physical well-being
2. Work Environment
3. Community and environment

A score for “Emotional and physical well-being” was based on 14 key measurements. The score for “Work environment” was based on 12 measurements including average time spent working, time spent commuting, income, concerns about money, current and long-term unemployment rates, underemployment rate, job security and satisfaction, rate of income growth, economic-confidence, and median credit score.

The score for “Community and environment” was based on five measurements, including volunteer rate, weather, average leisure time, separation and divorce rate and safety.

A weighted score was calculated for each of the three key areas.  The states were then ranked based on their total weighted score.

Maryland ranked fifth for emotional and physical well-being, 40th for work environment and 14th for the community for a total score of 60.50.

Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Feeding America, Corporation for National and Community Service, Gallup, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, United Health Foundation, Brandwatch, TransUnion, Minnesota Population Center – University of Minnesota, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration and WalletHub research.

For more information on WalletHub’s study, click here.

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