You Can Usually Tell How Happy Someone Is By The U.S. State They Live In, According To Data
maxbelchenko / Shutterstock Many Americans were likely born in the state they live in and either can’t afford to move away or don't want to.
Whether you feel stuck or love the place you call home can contribute to an overall sense of happiness or sadness, and, depending on the state you live in, environmental and climatic factors also play a significant role in mood stability. Basically, the state where you live can impact how happy you are.
Data reveals a compelling correlation between a state’s elevation and sunshine levels and how happy people are living there.
Hidden Housing is a now-defunct organization that provided free housing data, statistics, and trends for curious individuals interested in buying a home. Beyond its resources, which offered varying housing costs across the country and aided individuals in researching the most affordable options, its TikTok account also highlighted some interesting findings.
One of their videos examined maps of the elevation levels around the country, and reported levels of lifelong depression according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In a side-by-side comparison, Hidden Housing found that the more mountains a region has, the lower the depression levels are.
For instance, in states where the Rocky Mountains pass through, such as Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, there were also lower reported rates of depression. In other words, the more mountains people live near, the happier they tend to feel. “Obviously, depression is a super complex issue with all sorts of behavioral and genetic factors,” the person in the video explained. “But there’s clearly a correlation here.”
In another video, the organization integrated the same CDC report on depression levels by state with a Hidden Housing map of annual sunny days by county. Upon examining the comparison, depression rates were almost nonexistent in states with more sunny days annually, such as California, Florida, and Arizona, which have 200-300 days of sunshine a year. In states with much less sunshine, like Washington and Oregon, depression rates were reportedly much higher.
It’s no surprise that mountains and sunshine play a huge role in relieving sadness and stress.
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One important thing to note is that depression and sadness exist everywhere, in everyone. Some experience much more severe cases than others, and things like personal traumas, unpleasant experiences, and genetic mental conditions contribute significantly to an individual’s mental state.
But regardless of these elements, misery is an inevitable part of the human experience. No one can maintain pure joy without a little sadness or disappointment from time to time; it’s what makes us humans so complex and deep, and we should embrace the fluctuations of our emotions.
The climatic conditions in your environment have a significant impact on how you feel.
One of the most common grounding and therapeutic approaches that many mental health professionals frequently recommend to individuals experiencing chronic sadness in their lives is to go outside. Be in nature, reconnect to the earth, and find gratitude in the simple beauties that exist around us.
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While beauty certainly still exists on rainy days and mountain-less fields, staying in one place for too long can cloud an individual’s judgment of the beauty that’s around them, especially with less exposure to sunshine and elevation.
This is why it is so important to change your environment as often as you can, exploring the various natural landscapes around the country and the world. Doing this not only opens your perception to the pleasing experience of daily sunlight and mountain views, but it also allows you to notice more aspects of the beauty in your home state that you may not have appreciated before.
Francesca Duarte is a writer based in Orlando, FL. She covers lifestyle, human-interest, and spirituality topics.
