Mass. Is the 16th Happiest State in Which to Live (Hey, It's in the Top Half!)

MASSACHUSETTS—Shiny, happy people holding hands. According to a recent survey, Massachusetts is among the top 20 happiest places to live. In fact, based on findings of relatively low obesity and suicide rates, as well as being a safe place to live but bad weather, high depression and binge-drinking and low volunteerism, it landed at number 16 on the charts.

Personal finance website WalletHub just released its "2016 Happiest States in America," which focuses on research that finds that money cannot buy true happiness (though it sure can contribute). According to their findings, life satisfaction, one of the two main components of happiness, increases as income rises — to a maximum of $75,000 a year. Beyond that figure, money makes little difference in a person’s overall contentment with life.

So what does?

A recent poll by Gallup-Healthways that measured global well-being state that “People who make more money tend to report higher positive emotions.”

But WalletHub performed a recent analysis of other factors that contribute to happiness. Analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 28 key metrics, ranging from emotional health to income levels to sports participation rates.

Here are some key findings for Massachusetts, per Wallethub:

• Massachusetts has the fourth lowest obesity rate, just behind District of Columbia, Colorado and Hawaii
• The state has the third lowest suicide rate, behind District of Columbia and New York
• In terms of low work hours, Massachusetts is tied for fifth place, behind Utah, Oregon, Rhode Island and Michigan. Massachusetts tied with Vermont.
• If you're in the Commonwealth, you're in the second safest state, behind Vermont.
• Massachusetts has a relatively-high binge drinking rate, ranking at 35

Here is a snapshot of key findings:

Happiness in Massachusetts(1=Best; 25=Avg.)

• 35th - Satisfaction Index
• 44th - Hedonometer Rank
• 16th - Physical Health Index
• 44th - Depression Rate
• 26th - Adequate-Sleep Rate
• 37th - Emotional Health Ranking
• 4th - Obesity Rate
• 35th - Binge-Drinking Rate
• 4th - Food Insecurity Rate
• 10th - Rate of Heart Attacks
• 5th - Life Expectancy
• 12th - Sports Participation Rate
• 8th - Illness & Disability Index
• 3rd - Suicide Rate
• 47th - Commute Time
• 26th - Income Level
• 5th - Number of Work Hours
• 13th - Current Unemployment Rate
• 36th - Long-Term Unemployment Rate
• 31st - Job Security
• 29th - Income-Growth Rate
• 37th - Volunteerism Rate
• 50th - WalletHub “Weather” Ranking
• 15th - Number of Attractions
• 33rd - Leisure Time
• 13th - Divorce Rate
• 39th - Population-Growth Rate
• 2nd - WalletHub “Safety” Ranking

Read the whole report, including methodology on how analysts arrived at their findings, here.