Great States to Live in for the Future

Filed in Delaware, National by on August 14, 2012

Gallup developed what it calls the Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing Index to try to determine the states with the best expectations for future livability. Sad to report, Delaware is not in the top 10. We are in the bottom 10, though.

This index assigns scores for 13 different metrics of future well-being (their selection), including: Full-Time Employment for an Employer; Economic Confidence Index; Job Creation Index; Supervisor Relationship; Standard of Living Optimism; City Optimism; Daily Learning; Easy Access to Clean, Safe Water; Easy Access to a Safe Place to Exercise; Obesity; Smoking; Dentist Visits; and Future Life Evaluation. The scores for each of these were averaged to determine overall ranking. 530,000 US adults were interviewed over 6 months (January til June 2012) to get the actual index rankings. The Top 10 States in Future Livability:

And then the bottom 10:

Delaware scored low or towards the middle of the pack in pretty much all of the metrics. Anyone as surprised as I am? Seriously, I thought folks were abit more optimistic than this — although I understand where people come from in some of the health statistics.

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"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." -Shirley Chisholm

Comments (17)

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  1. jason330 says:

    I love stories that confirm that the deep south is a shit hole.

  2. puck says:

    For “Manager treats you like a partner, not a boss” Delaware ranked 49th out of 50 states.

  3. Kalel says:

    I guess our ranking reflects the best efforts of single party rule over the last decade. Ruth Ann, your legacy lives on!

  4. jason330 says:

    You may have hit upon a truth by accident. Since the GOP’s policy is to turn Delaware into a second rate Mississippi, we have one party rule to thank for keeping us out of the bottom three.

  5. heragain says:

    You don’t live longer in Utah. It just feels like you do, because you aren’t having any fun.

  6. Kalel says:

    Only the measured opinions/outcomes count, not theories. Of course, you’ll have the opportunity to test your theory very soon.

  7. heragain says:

    And did you know…”there are 43 Utah State Parks and several undeveloped areas totaling over 95,000 acres (380 km2) of land and more than one million surface acres of water.”*wiki

    & 20 million acres of Federally protected land. Significantly more than 1/2 the state.

    They’re less polluted because we won’t let them do it.
    Another example of government working.

  8. puck says:

    “I guess our ranking reflects the best efforts of single party rule over the last decade. ”

    Uh, so it was Democrats who told bosses to treat their workers like dogcrap?

  9. anon says:

    Kalel what state have you been living in? The Republicans controlled the State House for decades until 2008. Ruth Ann was a disaster, but the GOP House was a willing accomplice.

  10. Geezer says:

    Rankings like this are usually meaningless, and this one especially so. How does the health of other people make a state more livable? If I have cancer, what difference does the state’s cancer rate matter to me?

  11. Jason330 says:

    anon, According to the reflexive property of teabagism, everyone who is not an extreme right wing nutjop is a Democrat.

    You have to be able to decode these things.

  12. John Young says:

    There are reasons for this. The Delaware Way and the Governor are two.

  13. X Stryker says:

    The only metric for future livability that matters is height above sea level, and we’re pretty close to the bottom on that.

  14. puck says:

    And proximity to the Great Central Desert. People there will envy us for living on a coast near some water. We’ll probably have to annex Canada.

  15. Jason330 says:

    You think Canada is not already planning for that eventuality?

  16. Rockland says:

    Is anyone really surprised by where Delaware placed?

  17. fightingbluehen says:

    Psychotic pediatricians seem to love it here.