Happiest States of 2012: The List

Hamoa Beach in Maui, Hawaii. CREDIT: Maui Convention and Visitors Bureau View full size image

A survey called the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reveals which states are happiest. The index includes questions about six types of well-being, including overall evaluation of their lives, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviors (such as whether a person smokes or exercises), and job satisfaction.

Read more about the well-being survey and what it means. And compare how your state has risen or fallen in the rankings by looking at last year's scores.

Here are the 50 U.S. states in order of their well-being scores in 2012, which are out of 100 points.

1. Hawaii: 71.1
2. Colorado: 69.7
3. Minnesota: 68.9
4. Utah: 68.8
5. Vermont: 68.6
6. Nebraska: 68.5
7. Montana: 68.5
8. New Hampshire: 68.4
9. Iowa: 68.1
10. Massachusetts: 68.1
11. South Dakota: 68.0
12.  Maryland: 68.0
13. Wyoming: 67.9
14. Washington: 67.7
15. Virginia: 67.7
16. Kansas: 67.7
17. Connecticut: 67.6
18. North Dakota: 67.4
19. California: 67.4
20. Wisconsin: 67.3
21. Maine: 67.3
22. Oregon: 67.1
23. Idaho: 67.1
24. Arizona: 67.1
25. New Mexico: 66.7 (NOTE: New Mexico matches the nation's overall well-being score of 66.7)
26. Texas: 66.6
27. Illinois: 66.6
28. Delaware: 66.6
29. Pennsylvania: 66.5
30. New York: 66.2
31. New Jersey: 66.1
32. Georgia: 66.1
33. Alaska: 66.1
34. Florida: 65.8
35. North Carolina: 65.7
36. Michigan: 65.6
37. Rhode Island: 65.5
38. Missouri: 65.5
39. South Carolina: 65.2
40. Oklahoma: 65.2
41. Nevada: 65.2
42. Indiana: 65.1
43. Louisiana: 64.7
44. Ohio: 64.6
45. Alabama: 64.2
46. Arkansas: 64.1
47. Tennessee: 64.0
48. Mississippi: 63.6
49. Kentucky: 62.7
50. West Virginia: 61.3