Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Study Ranks Colorado As 5th Happiest State

Colorado is the 5th happiest state in the country, according to the latest report from Gallup-Healthways.

Gallup-Healthways called 1,000 Americans every day in 2010--excepting Holidays--with the goal of collecting comprehensive information regarding the country's quality of life. Researchers asked a series of questions that pertained to 6 categories--life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behavior, work environment and basic access to resources--which were used to calculate an overall well-being index.

Colorado's well-being index of 68.0 placed the state fifth behind Alaska (68.3), North Dakota (68.4), Wyoming (69.2) and Hawaii (71.0).

West Virgina has the lowest well-being index at 61.7, followed by Kentucky and Mississippi.

Western states filled five of the top ten spots in the Gallup-Healthways survey.

Gallup reports a margin of error of +/- 1-2% for most states, and +/-4% for smaller states.