Smile: A List Of Nation's Happiest States, Study Says

ACROSS AMERICA — Other than a volcano that launches "lava bombs" and the occasional monster wave, there's not a lot of reason to be glum in Hawaii, which ranked first in an analysis that claims to report the happiest and unhappiest states in the U.S.

To determine where Americans are the happiest, the personal finance website, WalletHub, examined the 50 states across 31 key metrics, ranging from depression rate, to job satisfaction, to separation and divorce rates.

Each relevant metric was then listed with its corresponding weight, and then graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing maximum happiness — the 31 weighted scores were then put together to give each state an individual score.

Hawaii ranked number one on the list overall with a strong showing across the 31 metrics, according to the report. The state finished first in "emotional & physical well-being," 25 in "work environment," and 12 in "community & environment."

Money isn't a driver of happiness, but it can increase it, according to the study — "Happiness only increases with wealth up to an annual income of $75,000 to $95,000." An analysis from the journal Nature Human Behavior found that the $95,000 mark is ideal for “life evaluation,” which includes long-term goals, peer comparisons, and other macro-level metrics.

These are the states that made the top 10 of WalletHub's rankings:

1. Hawaii: 66.48
2. Utah: 65.93
3. Minnesota: 65.57
4. California: 64.11
5. New Jersey: 60.54
6. Idaho: 60.51
7. Massachusetts: 60.50
8. Maryland: 59.53
9. Nebraska: 58.04
10. Connecticut: 57.93

Utah had the fewest hours worked in the country, as well as the highest volunteer rates, and the lowest divorce rates. Texas on the other hand finished as the least safe state in the U.S., and Oregon had the highest share of adult depression.

West Virginia took home the lowly honor of the unhappiest state.

Here's the overall ranking of all 50 states:

1. Hawaii: 66.48
2. Utah: 65.93
3. Minnesota: 65.57
4. California: 64.11
5. New Jersey: 60.54
6. Idaho: 60.51
7. Massachusetts: 60.50
8. Maryland: 59.53
9. Nebraska: 58.04
10. Connecticut: 57.93
11. Iowa: 57.88
12. North Dakota: 57.53
13. Nevada: 56.86
14. Virginia: 55.59
15. New York: 55.47
16. Delaware: 54.64
17. Georgia: 54.61
18. Arizona: 53.95
19. Colorado: 53.59
20. Vermont: 52.74
21. Washington: 52.41
22. New Hampshire: 52.21
23. Texas: 52.14
24. Illinois: 51.64
25. Wisconsin: 51.53
26. Pennsylvania: 51.42
27. South Dakota: 51.04
28. Florida: 50.75
29. South Carolina: 50.27
30. North Carolina: 49.83
31. Montana: 49.27
32. Kansas: 48.92
33. Rhode Island: 48.71
34. Wyoming: 47.54
35. Indiana: 47.27
36. Michigan: 46.93
37. Ohio: 45.19
38. Maine: 45.11
39. Oregon: 44.95
40. New Mexico: 44.91
41. Missouri: 42.99
42. Tennessee: 42.75
43. Oklahoma: 40.56
44. Alabama: 40.11
45. Kentucky: 38.86
46. Louisiana: 38.41
47. Mississippi: 38.28
48. Alaska: 36.48
49. Arkansas: 34.07
50. West Virginia: 33.73