Maine Trails Every New England Neighbor in New Happiness Report

A new national report isn't exactly giving Maine bragging rights. According to the rankings, Mainers are less happy than most of our New England neighbors

WalletHub, a personal finance website, recently published its annual report on the happiest states in America. The Pine Tree State is not exactly near the top. In fact, its in the bottom half, and the only New England state in the bottom 20.

How Unhappy is Maine?

Maine came in at No. 33 overall—not exactly a bastion of happiness. The state earned an overall score of 47.64 out of a possible 100.

The rankings were based on three major categories: Emotional & Physical Well-Being, Work Environment, and Community & Environment. Those categories were then broken down into 30 different metrics to create a more detailed analysis. You can read more about the methodology here.

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Maine actually performed very well in the Work Environment category, finishing eighth overall. That ranking considered factors such as job security, unemployment rates, job satisfaction, and workplace anxiety. Seeing Maine score so highly there is certainly encouraging.

Unfortunately, the state struggled in the other two categories. Maine ranked 36th in Emotional & Physical Well-Being and 40th in Community & Environment. Those two disappointing finishes dragged the state's overall ranking down, making it the lowest-ranked New England state in the report.

It's a little strange to think that Mainers seem to feel better about work than almost anything else. Maybe we just have a tremendous respect for what we do.

What's the Happiest State in New England?

So, how did the rest of New England compare?

5. Connecticut
8. New Hampshire
9. Massachusetts
26. Rhode Island
29. Vermont

Well, at least a couple of states weren't too far ahead of us.

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As for the happiest state in the nation, that honor went to Hawaii. I'm utterly shocked that a tropical paradise finished in first.

READ MORE: Maine’s Acadia National Park Named One of America’s Top 5

Meanwhile, congratulations to West Virginia for being named the least happy state in America. Funny enough, I lived there for five years and was extremely happy. Of course, I was in college and had very few responsibilities, so that probably had something to do with it.

Here's a look at the complete rankings.