Here come poll results poured into a simple graphic representation, but you can read all kinds of conclusions into it, such as “States with more electoral votes per capita are happier,” or “Upstream is better than downstream.” The original report is by Gallup and Healthways and contains all the data, but I thought the colors could be happier.
I think North Dakota benefits from oil money, low unemployment, and perhaps from exporting grumpy old men to Florida, who knows.
What the coloring also fails to show is the dynamic range. That would probably mean more. If all states in the top 35 are really close together, then the ranking means little because local and personal variation will muddle the baseline. And considering the large jumps in the rankings between 2012 and 2013, the dynamic range does appear to be rather small. If that’s the case, then all the ranking does is spread a narrow band of “Fine, thank you, and you?” into what looks like a band spanning from “FAAAANtastic!” to “Sadder than a snowman in summer.”