# Happiest and unhappiest places to live in the US



## hollydolly (Aug 2, 2014)

According to a survey in the WP today, these are the 10 happiest and unhappiest places to live in the US.

Anyone here live in any of these cities, and would you agree or disagree?

[h=2]10 Happiest Cities[/h] 
RankMetro areaState1LafayetteLA2HoumaLA3Shreveport-Bossier CityLA4Baton RougeLA5AlexandriaLA6RochesterMN7Corpus ChristiTX8Lake CharlesLA9NashvilleTN10GainesvilleFL
 [h=2]10 Unhappiest Cities[/h]   
RankMetro areaState1New YorkNY2St. JosephMO3South BendIN4EriePA5Evansville-HendersonIN-KY6ToledoOH7Jersey CityNJ8DetroitMI9GaryIN10Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--HazletonPA




http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/30/the-appeal-of-unhappy-cities/?hpid=z8


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## behdune (Aug 2, 2014)

No, we don't live in any of these cities or states, for that matter.
Our daughter used to live in Nashville...which I see is one of the happiest.  We had great times visiting her there, but their traffic is atrocious.


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## SifuPhil (Aug 2, 2014)

Wilkes Barre - :rofl:

I'd agree with that one most of the way, but I'm sure that NYC should not be #1 on the list.

And according to stats, Lafayette is above the national average for all categories of crime.

I think the author must be a realtor in the LA area ...


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## Falcon (Aug 2, 2014)

Spent some time in both Shreveport-Bossier City  AND  Lake Charles, La.  Great folks there.

Detroit?  What can I say?   Got outa' Dodge just as it was crashing.  WHEW !!!


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## JustBonee (Aug 2, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> Wilkes Barre - :rofl:
> 
> I'd agree with that one most of the way, but I'm sure that NYC should not be #1 on the list.
> 
> ...



It seems that way to me too Phil.  .. but, I will agree with them about Baton Rouge being a happy town. .lived there for less than a year, but enjoyed everything about the place. .it's  the capital,  and home to LSU.  It's a pretty place and super fine people.

As for unhappy, Toledo, Ohio is a rough city, and I'm seeing on the national evening news that they have no city water today either. 
 I would be unhappy too!


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## rkunsaw (Aug 3, 2014)

They are only comparing large metro areas. I don't think I would be happy living in any of the places on either list. I think rural areas or small towns are the happiest places no matter what part of the country they're in.


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## Capt Lightning (Aug 3, 2014)

Rochester Mn is the only one of the cities that I know, having worked there for some time.
Actually, I rather enjoyed it, but it's not the sort of place I'd like to live.


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## hollydolly (Aug 3, 2014)

Capt Lightning said:


> Rochester Mn is the only one of the cities that I know, having worked there for some time.
> Actually, I rather enjoyed it, but it's not the sort of place I'd like to live.



Can you tell those of us who don't know it why that might be Capt ?


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## SifuPhil (Aug 3, 2014)

Bonnie said:


> It seems that way to me too Phil.  .. but, I will agree with them about Baton Rouge being a happy town. .lived there for less than a year, but enjoyed everything about the place. .it's  the capital,  and home to LSU.  It's a pretty place and super fine people.



I've never even been to Louisiana so I can't really make any judgement calls. I'll just take your word for it. 



> As for unhappy, Toledo, Ohio is a rough city, and I'm seeing on the national evening news that they have no city water today either.
> I would be unhappy too!


 
I had several visits to Ohio and actually got into Toledo once or twice - I agree that it's a rough place. In fact, it was so rough that at the Toledo Zoo the penguins were mugging the polar bears. 

I've seen so many of these lists - _Best Places To Retire, Healthiest Cities, Best Cities for Siamese Twins_ - and they are all flawed by the fact that they merely reflect the authors' prejudices. I think the only way to _really_ know if a city is for you is to actually live there for a few years.

I think a _lot_ of large cities are going to start going the way of Detroit as their populations change and their infrastructures begin crumbling - like Rkunsaw said it's probably much better in the small towns.


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## oldman (Aug 3, 2014)

I live in PA, so I have numbers 4 & 10 in my state on the "Unhappy List" and have been to both a number of times. I certainly understand Erie getting to be number 4, but Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Hazelton, I give up. Maybe because of the weather? It is cold, and snows a lot, but I would imagine the same may be true for Rochester, MN. Not much going on in Hazelton, but Scranton-Wilkes Barre is generally busy with activity, so I am at a loss as to why the unhappiness.


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## SifuPhil (Aug 3, 2014)

Oldman, I live in Wilkes Barre. Been here for over 20 years.

I don't think it's the weather - like you said, there are plenty of other places with the same weather.

I think the lack of happiness here is due to several reasons, the first being that the older generation here still has the "coal miner's mentality" - they dislike change of any kind. 

The political scene here has a long history of inbreeding and corruption. 

There are growing pockets of "immigrants" from NY and NJ that are hot spots for drug dealing and serious crimes. 

There are tons of absentee landlords. As a result many of the inner city properties are basically tenements.

The city had the chance to preserve landmark buildings such as the Hotel Sterling and the Planter's Peanuts factory and make money from them. Instead, they tore them both down despite vociferous complaints and petitions. It's how the city operates, kickbacks and all.

The "Renaissance" of downtown WB is a joke - there are still dozens of boarded-up storefronts next to the new $200,000 lofts, and the druggies and muggers still claim Main Street as their own. 

Scranton is a little better but still has their fair share of problems. Hazelton has turned into Immigration Central and equals or exceeds WB in number of abandoned properties and crime rates.


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## oldman (Aug 4, 2014)

SifuPhil-----Do you live in Luzerne County? I have read of a lot of corruption in the political and law enforcement arenas in that area.


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## SifuPhil (Aug 4, 2014)

oldman said:


> SifuPhil-----Do you live in Luzerne County? I have read of a lot of corruption in the political and law enforcement arenas in that area.



Yes I do and yes, you're right - it's known for its history of corruption as much as its coal mining. 

I won't say it's a BAD place to live, especially if you're raising kids and/or like outdoor activities like hunting and fishing, but if you like museums or legitimate theater or sunny beaches  you'd probably be better off elsewhere. Basically it's a _little_ town that's trying to make the jump to a _big_ town and failing miserably.


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## Capt Lightning (Aug 4, 2014)

Re. my comments about Rochester Mn..   I think it it's climate/location that put me off wanting to live there.
Slap bang in the middle of the country - hot in the summer and freezing in the winter.  I've always lived near the sea where the climate was much less extreme.


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## JustBonee (Aug 5, 2014)

hollydolly said:


> *10 Happiest Cities*
> 
> 
> RankMetro areaState1LafayetteLA2HoumaLA3Shreveport-Bossier CityLA4Baton RougeLA5AlexandriaLA6RochesterMN7Corpus ChristiTX8Lake CharlesLA9NashvilleTN10GainesvilleFL




There's happiness hidden in that Cajun Swamp country ...


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## SifuPhil (Aug 5, 2014)

I was going to make a snide comment about how humid Louisiana is, but in checking out the stats it seems that Texas and Washington state have the highest average humidities in the country ...

City-Data: Top 101 Cities With The Highest Average Humidity


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## Ina (Aug 5, 2014)

I thank the person that invented air conditioning! :cool1:


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## Misty (Aug 5, 2014)

I'm surprised Illinois wasn't on the list of the most unhappiest places to live

              By Andy Grimm_,_           ChicagoTribune reporter
May 1, 2014

University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignChampaign (Champaign, Illinois)


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Half  of Illinois residents would move to another state if they could — the  highest percentage for any state, according to a poll released by Gallup  this week.


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## littleowl (Aug 6, 2014)

San Francisco is a happy place.
The death cell not so happy.


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## Davey Jones (Aug 6, 2014)

[h=1]Happiest and unhappiest places to live in the US[/h]There are no unhappy places in the United States,consider yourselves lucky you were born here.
If you're not happy here then simply leave.


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