Is Arizona Really The Happiest State In The Southwest?

A recent report ranked the happiest states in the United States of America and, surprisingly, Texas didn't take the number 1 spot.

Texas not only wasn't the happiest of all the 50 states, we came in toward the bottom of the pile at #38. WTH? Texas is beautiful, we're loaded with cool stuff to do, we have lots to brag about and we're so friendly; it's the freakin' state motto. What's not to be happy about in the lone star state?

Wallethub did the survey using all kinds of different factors from several key categories.

We evaluated those dimensions using 30 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing maximum happiness.

Finally, we determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample. - wallethub

A perfect 100 means peeps are so happy they should be, as Clark Griswold said in "Vacation", whistling zippity doo dah out of their ... well, you know. (Careful, that link is way NSFW.)

Something even peeps in the happiest state in the union can't seem to do since Hawaii was nowhere near 100. (68.71). They were numero uno while Texas wound up in 38th place with a 45.56.

How'd we get way the hell down there? Yes, Hawaii's beaches are beautiful but Texas has everything ... beaches, mountains, forests, deserts, wetlands ... plus a strong economy and a ton of big things. I don't get it.

As far as the southwest goes, Arizona beat us by a pretty good margin, coming in 25th with a score of 52.13.

How did we get beat by a state with huge, unpopulated areas, deadly heat, venomous reptiles and little water? Sure, they have the grand canyon but even it's got its cons.

On the upside though, we did better than our neighbor to the north. New Mexico was almost last, taking #46 with a score of 40.82.

With all the pot they're selling, you'd think they'd be the ones whistling.