New Research Gives Floridians Something to Smile About
Posted August 07, 2014 08:20 am
JACKSONVILLE, FL -
Are Floridians happy?
Yes, at least when compared with people in other parts
of the country, researchers say.
A
working paper from researchers using data from the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System lists the happiest and
unhappiest cities in the country.
Three Florida cities - Jacksonville, West Palm Beach and
Naples - made the top of the list when it comes to
happiest cities.
Joshua Gottlieb, assistant professor of economics at the
University of British Columbia, says Florida was in good
company.
"Louisiana tended to do particularly well," he says.
"Hawaii - you won't be surprised - also reports high
life satisfaction.
"Educated areas also tend to have higher life
satisfaction."
No Florida cities made the unhappy list that is topped
by Scranton, Pennsylvania and New York City, but
Gottlieb says because many people still choose to live
in these areas, it shows they still have something to
offer.
He explains it appears people seem to trade off
happiness over other things they might value more such
as living close to family, higher income or lower cost
of living.
Gottlieb says the fact that people seem to be willing to
make active choices to trade off happiness against other
factors suggests that policymakers and researchers
shouldn't act as though happiness is an overriding
objective.
He says it's not a top priority for many people, and
that's OK.
"Having a child may reduce your happiness, or moving to
a more competitive city may reduce your happiness," he
points out. "People are capable of making these
tradeoffs, and we shouldn't interfere with that. We
should let them decide what's important to them."
No southern cities made the unhappy list, according to
the research.
The closest unhappy area was in Evansville, Indiana;
Louisville, Kentucky; and areas of West Virginia.
Photos/graphics and links added by the Observer | image - allbackgrounds.com
This piece was reprinted by the Columbia County Observer with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.