If you're reading this post right now, let me ask you: Are you a resident of Massachusetts? You are? Okay, good! Now, answer this. Are you happy? You know, for the most part?

According to a new study, if you reside in Massachusetts, then you should be pretty happy, on average. Our good friends at WalletHub have once again conducted a study regarding the degree of happiness in all 50 states. And the Bay State came in at #10!

So, compared to the rest of the country, we who live in Massachusetts are relatively happy. WalletHub did the back-breaking work, examining all 50 states across numerous metrics of happiness covering everything from the positive COVID-19 testing rate and the unemployment rate to income growth and the depression rate.

The study found that Massachusetts had the third-lowest suicide rate and the fifth-highest income growth. The Bay State also ranked 43 in community and environment, 13 in work environment, and 3 in emotional and physical well-being!

By the way, because I know you can't wait to find out, here are the states that WalletHub ranked as the top 10 happiest:

  1. Utah
  2. Minnesota
  3. Hawaii
  4. California
  5. North Dakota
  6. South Dakota
  7. Idaho
  8. Maryland
  9. New Jersey
  10. Massachusetts

Past studies have found that some of the keys to a well-balanced, fulfilled, "happy" life include good physical, emotional, and economic health. In many of the metrics used to compile the study, Massachusetts ranked near the middle but ranked high enough in other metrics to come in at #10 overall.

And in case you were wondering, West Virginia was ranked the least-happiest state, followed by Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.

It is quite an interesting study(as it always is with WalletHub). Check out more results, plus other metrics that were looked at for the study, by visiting WalletHub's website here.

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Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

Gallery Credit: Keri Wiginton

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