Virginia Tomorrow

Here’s a ranking of the states on a specific criterion.

1st is the highest ranking. 50th is the lowest.

Guess what the criterion is.

Louisiana is 1st.

South Carolina is 6th.

Mississippi is 7th.

Alabama is 9th.

Virginia is 27th.

Rhode Island is 41st.

California is 45th.

New Jersey is 46th.

Connecticut is 49th.

New York is 50th.

Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama in the Top Ten.

What can it possibly be?

Aren’t these the basket-case states that no other place wants to emulate?

Give up?

It comes from a study published by Science and reported in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.

It’s a state-by-state ranking of how satisfied residents are with their lives.

And while I’m sure there are some snooty New Yorkers who are quoting John Stuart Mill’s line that he’d “rather be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied,” the South is standing a little taller today.

My politically minded friends are sure to interpret the results as saying that, in general, people in red states are happier than those in blue states.

But that’s not the kind of reading I’d give it today.

I’ll be content with saying that it reinforces the age-old holiday message.

Money alone doesn’t determine what people think of their states.

Merry Xmas! Happy Holidays!

**** The study has one caveat to it. It statistically “controls” for age, income and employment status that tend to be independently associated with satisfaction in life.