Want to be Healthy? Move to Hawaii: Gallup Finds Residents Have Better Lives

Want to be healthy? Move to Hawaii. The state has been ranked as number one for the fourth year in a row for having the healthiest, happiest residents.

Each year, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is released. It rates the best sense of overall well-being based on physical health, outlook on life, job satisfaction and other factors that affect quality of life. In order to gather data for this index, Gallup conducts phone surveys from a random sample of 1,000 people daily for 350 days a year. These people answer questions that cover everything from their physical health to their lifestyle behaviors.  

A total of 60 percent of adults in Hawaii consider that they are "thriving." The national average, in contrast, is a mere 53 percent. The rest of those surveyed in the U.S. in 2012 believe that they were struggling (43.5 percent) or suffering (3.5 percent).

Yet these findings aren't completely surprising. States tend to have the same rankings from year to year. For example, states that have consistently ranked in the top 10 on the well-being index every year from 2008 to 2012 include Utah, Minnesota, Colorado and Montana. These states, in general, tend to have lower rates of obesity and fewer medical problems such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and chronic pain. They also tend to report enjoying their jobs more, have lower rates of smoking and also exercise more.

These results are in sharp contrast to the states that usually rank in the bottom 10, including West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Arkansas and Mississippi. In West Virginia in particular, only about 45 percent of people considered that they were thriving.

That's not to say that some states didn't jump around in their rankings between 2011 and 2012. North Dakota went from second to number 19 while Alaska plummeted from fourth to number 31. Kansas went from number seven to 17 and Delaware jumped from 47 to 26.

These states remained inconsistent, but Hawaii continues to remain at the top. Forget about vacation; consider moving. The island state seems to be the place to live if you want to have a healthier, happier life.