Though it’s not dead last, the Baton Rouge region is still low on the Gallup-Healthways 2015-2016 State of American Well-Being rankings, snagging the No. 177 spot on the list out of 189 metro areas. The Capital Region’s overall ranking is an incremental improvement over last year when it ranked No. 179.
The rankings measure how people feel about their daily lives in five different areas—social, purpose, financial, community and physical. Communities are ranked for their overall well-being score, which is based on a scale of zero, the lowest possible score, to 100, the highest.
Baton Rouge received an overall score of 59.9. Among the five areas examined, the Capital Region ranks No. 160 in purpose, or residents achieving their goals or liking what they do every day. It ranks 178th each in the areas of social relationships and financial well-being. It’s No. 174 for community, or residents liking where they live, and No. 137 in physical, or residents who have good health and the energy to complete daily tasks.
Gallup tracks the well-beings of metro areas on the basis of two-year rolling averages. The data was drawn from more than 354,000 interviews, conducted from Jan. 2, 2015, through Dec. 30, 2016, with U.S. adults.
“The data and insights from this report can be used as a call-to-action for communities around the country, leveraging it to benchmark and identify opportunities for well-being improvement,” the report says.
Also on the list, Lafayette ranks 91, New Orleans-Metairie ranks 103, and Shreveport-Bossier is No. 111. Gallup and Healthways released state rankings last month, with Louisiana falling to No. 43 on the list from 42 in the prior year.
The Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island metro area in Florida retained the top spot of the rankings with a score 66.3—1.3 points higher than its 2014-2015 score of 65.
