Mapped: The Happiest (and Least Happy) States in 2025

Are people in West Virginia generally happy? According to WalletHub, that’s up for debate. The financial advice site recently aggregated data widely believed to be relevant to a person’s overall sense of contentment: mental health, money, sleep quality, weather, and more. The Mountain State scored at the very bottom, coming in 50th.

1. The 20 Happiest States
2. How to Measure Happiness

Whether life satisfaction can be gauged using these metrics is likely to prove controversial. But for those that find merit in it, here’s how the states shake out, ranked from 1 (the happiest) to 50 (West Virginians):

The 20 Happiest States

According to the interactive map above, Hawaii is the epicenter of happiness in the U.S. The state scored high in surveys assessing overall health and physical activity, and low in depression diagnoses. Objectively, some numbers are impressive: In 2021, Hawaiians had the highest life expectancy rate in the country at 79.9 years. They also see some of the lowest unemployment rates.

Maryland ranks second, thanks to the large number of households reporting income over $75,000 annually as well as relatively scant social media chatter from the state about work-related complaints.

You May Also Like:

• The 10 Happiest Countries on Earth
• The 25 Happiest Cities in America
• The 10 Happiest Songs, According to Science

Nebraska, ranked third, offers another metric for happiness: lower divorce and separation rates.

Here’s the entire top 20:

1. Hawaii
2. Maryland
3. Nebraska
4. New Jersey
5. Connecticut
6. Utah
7. California
8. New Hampshire
9. Massachusetts
10. Idaho
11. Minnesota
12. Delaware
13. South Dakota
14. Florida
15. Virginia
16. New York
17. Iowa
18. Pennsylvania
19. Georgia
20. Wisconsin

How to Measure Happiness

WalletHub assessed 30 metrics with accessible data, organizing them into three categories: emotional and physical well-being, work, and community. Within those headings were statistics and self-reported observations about job satisfaction, life expectancy, leisure time, and even happiness-draining elements like commute time.

But can happiness really be quantified? WalletHub asked the question of several health and relationship experts.

“The most important thing about happiness is that it is a perception,” said Jeanette Bennett, Ph.D., associate professor at the Department of Psychological Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. “When we think about the ‘ingredients’ of happiness, one important question is: how close is someone’s idea of what their life should be to the reality of the life they are living? When those are aligned, people are generally happy. When they are not, disruption, frustration, unhappiness, and discontent often arise.”

And while many of these statistics are intriguing, they don't exist in a vacuum. While it's true Hawaiians do have the highest life expectancy in the country, that’s attributable in part to diet. Those living on lower incomes may not have access to healthy meal options.

So can these states be said to be more or less “happy”? That’s a highly subjective term. But the data does demonstrate that the higher-ranking states appear to excel at reducing the barriers to happiness; better metrics relating to employment, access to activities and social opportunities, and even weather can all have a measurable impact on one’s mental well-being. Hawaii may not make you happy, but it might improve your odds of getting there.