For the second year in a row, Louisiana has made a little progress in the Gallup-Healthways State of American Well-Being rankings.
Louisiana is ranked No. 40 in this year’s report, released today, up one spot from a year ago and three spots from two years ago. This year’s ranking is Louisiana’s best since attaining the No. 36 slot in 2011. Gallup has partnered with Healthways to publish the report annually since 2008, when it ranked Louisiana No. 42.
Alaska is the top-rated state in this year’s report, followed by Hawaii, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. The lowest-ranked state is West Virginia, followed by Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas.
“As in prior years, well-being in the U.S. exhibits regional patterns,” Gallup-Healthways says in its analysis of this year’s rankings. “The Northern Plains and Mountain West are higher well-being areas, along with some Western states and pockets of the Northeast and Atlantic. The lowest well-being states start in the South and move north through the industrial Midwest.”
Gallup-Healthways compiles the rankings based on interviews it conducted with more than 176,000 Americans during 2014. Each state is assigned an overall index score based on survey responses regarding five well-being metrics: purpose (liking what you do, feeling motivated); social (supportive relationships); financial (ability to manage economic life); community (liking where you live and feeling safe); and physical (overall health).
Of the five metrics, Louisiana earned its highest ranking—No. 9—in the purpose category. It ranked No. 31 for social, No. 48 for financial, No. 34 for community and No. 43 for physical.
See the complete State of American Well-Being report.
—Steve Sanoski
