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Survey says Mass. is happy, but not TOO happy. How about you?

See how the Bay State placed in the new U.S. happiness ranking from WalletHub.

Red Sox fans are occasionally happy, especially lately. Jim Davis/Globe Staff

September 9, 2025

1 minute to read

What is happiness? Charles M. Schulz used to say that it was a warm puppy, and there’s certainly an argument to be made for that. But for some people, it seems that happiness is living in Massachusetts.

According to a new study by the personal finance website WalletHub that purports to rank the “Happiest States in America,” Massachusetts clocks in as the ninth happiest state. So a little happier than, say, Minnesota (11th) and New York (16th), and a whole lot happier than Kentucky (43rd) and West Virginia (50th).

We’re not as happy, though, as the top finisher, Hawaii — duh — nor, perhaps more surprisingly, as our New England brethren Connecticut (5th) and New Hampshire (8th). We can only presume it’s because New Hampshire has better mountains, and the people of Connecticut are remarkably well-insured.

So is it that Massachusetts makes people happy, or do happy people just happen to live here? Hard to say, but the results were based on 30 key metrics, according to WalletHub, “ranging from the depression rate and the share of adults feeling productive, to income growth and the unemployment rate.”

Diving deeper into the Massachusetts results, we ranked sixth for “Work Environment,” eighth for “Emotional & Physical Well-Being,” and 31st for “Community & Environment.”

One surprise from the survey on the New England front: Vermont finished way down at No. 29, and had the fourth-highest rate of adult depression — despite being No. 1 for “Adequate-Sleep Rate.” Personally, nothing cheers us up like a good night’s sleep, so who knows what’s up with that? In case you were curious, New Jersey is the state with the lowest rate of adult depression, because of Bruce Springsteen. (Presumably.)

You can scroll down for the state-by-state results, but first, we want to know whether you concur with the Bay State’s status in the top-fifth of U.S. states when it comes to happiness. Are you that happy? Happier? Decidedly less happy? Take the Boston.com poll below, or email [email protected], and let us know. We may print your response in an upcoming article.

How happy are you in Massachusetts?

On a scale of 1-5, 5 being the most happy, how would you rate your happiness living in Massachusetts?(Required)

5: I'm over the moon

4: I'm reasonably happy

3: I'm as happy/unhappy as the next person

2: I'm fairly unhappy

1: Color me miserable

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