the happ-iest town in the whole USA

[Tahitijack]

Surprised. I'd pick a place in in Hawaii before Boulder. Aloha spirit.

[Murphy Slaw]

Those stories make me laugh.

97% of stats are made up...

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw

Those stories make me laugh.

97% of stats are made up...

As often as I hear that same 97% about real data, I feel compelled to ask for some support.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw

Those stories make me laugh.

I don't know, seems spot on to me. Many of those places I either have lived in would like to. My area is in the top and I believe it. California, and particularly Northern and Central California are well represented, which comes as no surprise if you've been lucky enough to live here. I plan to retire in area #2.

The rankings are based on 250,000 interviews conducted in 190 metropolitan areas between 2014 and 2015. The survey—developed by Dan Buettner, author of the new book The Blue Zones of Happiness, and Dan Witters, a senior scientist at Gallup—looked for data points that are correlated with life satisfaction and happiness, like whether or not you exercise, if you feel safe in your community, whether you feel like you live within your means, and whether you feel like you are reaching your goals.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

I don't know, seems spot on to me. Many of those places I either have lived in would like to. My area is in the top and I believe it. California, and particularly Northern and Central California are well represented, which comes as no surprise if you've been lucky enough to live here. I plan to retire in area #2.

Understanding of course that the graph says "Happiest Places" which is bit of a misnomer because the survey is of "metro places" The reality is there may well be lots of happy or even " Happier places" that are more rural. I have lived in FT Collins number 4, and stay in Boulder regularly where my daughter and son in law live , and personally I am much much happier now, far far from "metro" juss sayin'

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Understanding of course that the graph says "Happiest Places" which is bit of a misnomer because the survey is of "metro places" The reality is there may well be lots of happy or even " Happier places" that are more rural. I have lived in FT Collins number 4, and stay in Boulder regularly where my daughter and son in law live , and personally I am much much happier now, far far from "metro" juss sayin'

Great! Totally get it. I lived in rural areas for 25 years or so growing up, and it's fantastic as well for different reasons.

[Earl49]

I've lived in #16 (Ann Arbor), #17 (NorCal), and #10 (Anchorage). I've visited #16 (Honolulu) many times. I'm much happier here in Idaho, as our careers no longer force us to live in major urban areas. Big cities are just not for me...... I'm a "flyover country" kind of guy.

[mdhttr]

Before anyone sells their house and loads up the truck to move there, Boulder is one of the most expensive housing markets in the country.

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2018/03/...-home-boulder/

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Earl49

I've lived in #16 (Ann Arbor), #17 (NorCal), and #10 (Anchorage). I've visited #16 (Honolulu) many times. I'm much happier here in Idaho, as our careers no longer force us to live in major urban areas. Big cities are just not for me...... I'm a "flyover country" kind of guy.

I get that. Our home metro area has dropped off of some lists via regional politics but it is still a very nice university, regional health care and state capital. My wife and I both travelled a lot and probably still do compared to most Americans. People were surprised that we went back to fly over country to raise kids.

When we visit family and friends in some areas we see how much time they spend in a car or traveling to the truly wonderful stuff in the area. Here pedal your bike east for 25-30 minutes along lakeshore has you on a lovely campus. Pedal your bike 2 mi west and it's a trailhead with 5-15 miles of MTB or ski trails. 20 min in the car is an airport with 4 non-stops a day to Denver, more to NYC, and no shortage of connections to international hubs.

The only issue is people are catching on. 5 new neighbors all came from coasts or far. Homes have been bid up 25% in recent years. The $8000 a year property tax bill will keep climbing but it is a better first class ticket than on an airplane. Our kids have had walk, bike and bus k-12. The neighborhood biergarten allows dogs and kids. Chicago Sandy has played there.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by mdhttr

Before anyone sells their house and loads up the truck to move there, Boulder is one of the most expensive housing markets in the country.

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2018/03/...-home-boulder/

Actually it is worse than that article (don't know where the are coming up with a Median home price: $546,400 ?
My daughter and son in law have been looking for several years now and anything less than $750k - $950k is basically a 50's 60's era fixer upper, or rat hole or tear down .
Of course it is worse here in Teton County Wyoming but it is not a metro area.

[Dirk Hofman]

Supply and demand. Best places will tend to be more expensive. Coming from the Bay Area it looks like a nice place to upgrade my living space!

[Paddy1951]

I was stationed at Ft. Carson for a while while doing my military thing. I visited Boulder. Very nice.

In fact, I liked much of Colorado for a variety of reasons.

I think the happiest place for anybody has just a mountain (pun intended) of variables. So, how are these things decided?

I mean if any given place had all the ingredients and was considered the happiest place, some of those ingredients would quickly change as many moved there.

So, are the people who live in Boulder just generally a more happy sort?

The things that lead to happiness with one's surroundings are kind of a personal receipe.

For myself, I like water. Not oceans, but lakes. And I like trees.

I like low taxes, but good services. I don't like weather extremes.

I like places with children. I like places where the arts are available and close and affordable.

We all have are personal puzzle pieces that make up our happiest place to live.

Boulder is one of them.

[Tahitijack]

When these types of "Best Places" stories are published I am always skeptical. As an example, Honolulu is not representative of Hawaii. If you like Miami you'll love HNL. I always think that the stories are created by a group sitting in a NYC conference room on a Friday evening with a stack of pizza boxes and case or two of beer. Whoa Jordan, I jusss got back from St. Thomas and it was the bomb! No way J, I was in Costa Rica last month and it was killer....
You get the picture.

[RP]

Looks like the poll took place in 2014-2015, and my hometown made number three on the list. Unfortunately, one weekend in August 2017 marked a noticeably unhappy point in Charlottesville's recent past. However, flash forward to 2019 when UVa won the NCAA Basketball Championship. Hard to say where we rank on the happiness quotient at this point....

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Tahitijack

When these types of "Best Places" stories are published I am always skeptical. As an example, Honolulu is not representative of Hawaii. If you like Miami you'll love HNL. I always think that the stories are created by a group sitting in a NYC conference room on a Friday evening with a stack of pizza boxes and case or two of beer. Whoa Jordan, I jusss got back from St. Thomas and it was the bomb! No way J, I was in Costa Rica last month and it was killer....
You get the picture.

The methodology is linked described in the article, and I posted it above. The results and the article were created by polling people who live across the country answering questions about their lives.

Skepticism is good. We should always question evidence. Skepticism for its own sake, without looking at the facts, is pointless.