Newly released research from Gallup and Healthways ranks the best and worst states for well-being.

Overall, the states with the highest well-being in 2015, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, were:

  1. Hawaii (highest)
  2. Alaska
  3. Montana
  4. Colorado
  5. Wyoming
  6. South Dakota
  7. Minnesota
  8. Utah
  9. Arizona
  10. California

The states with the lowest well-being in 2015:

  1. West Virginia (lowest)
  2. Kentucky
  3. Oklahoma
  4. Ohio
  5. Indiana
  6. Missouri
  7. Arkansas
  8. Mississippi
  9. Louisiana
  10. Georgia

This is the eighth year for the rankings. Hawaii achieved the highest overall well-being in the nation for the fifth time, and West Virginia was the state with the lowest well-being for the seventh consecutive year.

Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data are based on interviews with more than 177,000 people nationwide about physical health and their insights related to sense of purpose, social relationships, financial security and relationship to their community. The recently released report ranks the states according to all of those factors as well. In the United States, higher well-being has been shown to correlate with lower healthcare costs and increased worker productivity, in turn enhancing organizational and community competitiveness, according to the surveying organizations.

In July, Gallup and Healthways released state well-being rankings for Americans aged 55 or more years. Criteria were the same as they were for the recently released report. As with the new report related to all Americans, the overeall top state for older adults was Hawaii, and the bottom state was West Virginia.