What I've Learned

Last Wednesday morning, I checked the top stories on Google News and found this headline: Michigan Ranked Least Happiest State In Nation.

The use of "least happiest" caused Quin the cat, who was sitting on my lap, to look up at me.

"That's the most stupidest headline I've read in weeks," his look seemed to say. I agreed.

For his amusement and mine, I clicked on the link. It brought us to the website of WHTC television in Holland, Michigan, which had posted this poorly-edited story:

"Michigan has been named the least happiest state in the nation. That's according to a new survey by Gallup-Healthways that ranks the 50 states according to the well-being of the people who live there. Those categories include emotional and physical health, life evaluation and work environment. Coming in at number one was Hawaii, followed by Wyoming, and North Dakota. Last year, a poll conducted by Gallup-Healthways had Holland/Grand Haven was second in the nation behind Boulder, Colorado for its level of well-being and optimism."

Quin looked up at me again. He, too, had seen the use of "had Holland/Grand Haven was." He hopped down and left the room.

A quick internet search for Gallup-Healthways brought me to their site, and I read the report for myself.

Guess what?

Michigan was not the least happy state. West Virginia was. And ranked above West Virginia were Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, Nevada, Delaware, and Louisiana. Only then do you come to Michigan, tenth from the bottom.

Longtime readers of this column know how crazy this sort of thing makes me. What is it about published studies that causes news reporters to go all soft in the brain?

To create this study, Gallup-Healthways makes random calls each day to people across the nation, calling not just landlines, but cell phone numbers as well. When they get an adult respondent on the phone, they ask questions about six areas of life: life evaluation (self-evaluation about your present life situation and anticipated one in five years); emotional health; work environment (such as job satisfaction); physical health; healthy behavior; and basic access (access to health care, a doctor, a safe place to exercise and walk, as well as community satisfaction).

Interviewers have the respondents rate each area on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the best. From these interviews—last year Gallup-Healthways conducted 352,840 of them—they tabulate the responses into a Well-Being Index, broken down, not just by state, but by city and congressional district.

News agencies across the country (even WHTC television, which short-sheeted its own state) have made a big deal out of the recently-released numbers for 2010.

The ten happiest states, they are quick to report, are (starting at the top) Hawaii, Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska, Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Massachusetts.

For 2010, Hawaii had an over-all Wellbeing Index of 71. West Virginia had an index of 61.7.

Maine came in 25th, with an index of 66.4. The national average was 66.8.

Out of more than a dozen news reports I looked at, none bothered to say this: on a scale of 100, the highest and lowest states are only 9.3 points apart.

Heck, Maine and Hawaii are only 4.6 points apart. On a scale of 100.

If you are thinking about moving based on Gallup-Healthways' Wellbeing Index, you might want to think again.

Unless you live in Michigan and want better tv news.