According to a Gallup report as cited in 24/7 Wall Street Wire, Hawaii is the happiest state, followed by North Dakota and Minnesota. In aggregate, employment, health, longevity, and education point to these three states as the happiest.
The report makes for entertaining reading, but it probably does little to enrich the status of the folks who live in the top rated states. Pondering the effects of this data on the average citizen, it's not likely to make anyone happier or less happy, except during the time they are reading the report. We seem to be presented with more and more data in the form of ranked lists almost daily. Fact is that a low unemployment rate is almost meaningless to someone who can't find a job. A low poverty rate and high average income mean little to persons living in poverty.
The report is not necessarily flawed, it's just a report. Similar to the Gallup report, there are housing reports showing that a high percentage of homeowners are underwater, there are a pile of homes that have been or are soon to be repossessed by lenders, prices are dropping/increasing/remaining the same.
When you look at a ranking of states with the highest or lowest housing misery, it should only affect your every day life for the few minutes you are reading the report. It's not much more than entertaining reading, more or less. Your decision to buy or sell a home should depend on only a couple criteria. If you have the financial resources, and if you want to change from one place of residence to another, you should probably do it.
Life is short (a little longer in HI, ND, and MN), and the best time for a lifestyle upgrade is when you are able to make it happen. Considerations about possible later economic gains and losses have to be tempered with considerations about the perishable nature of children who have a "shelf life" of around eighteen years start to finish, and your own life cycle which needs to be enjoyed and appreciated to its fullest.
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