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SALT LAKE CITY — After spending several years among the states with the highest rating of overall “well-being” nationwide, Utah has fallen out of favor.
A report called the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index shows that the Beehive State fell eight spots to No. 12 in 2013 — down from fourth in 2012.
It's Utah’s lowest rating in the six-year history of the index.
The decline was attributed primarily to a significant drop in the emotional health index, according to Dan Witters, research director for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. In 2013, Utah fell to No. 27 in that category — down from No. 12 the previous year.
“That created a drag on their overall score,” he said. Utah also saw a decline in the work environment index, which fell to No. 20 overall from No. 12 in 2012.
He noted that since the index’s inception, Utah's average ranking has been among the top five, even with this latest decline.
“If you look across six years, Utah would be tied for second overall in terms of an average ranking,” Witters said. “Utah has got it going. They do a lot of things right.”
North Dakota's six-year average is tops nationwide, yet last year the Peace Garden State’s No. 19 ranking was an aberration, he said. So Utah could possibly bounce back in 2014.
The index — which began in January 2008 and is a partnership between Gallup and Healthways — was compiled using data from more than 178,000 respondents over a 12-month period last year asking them 55 survey questions on various lifestyle issues under six different categories or domains.
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Nebraska
- Minnesota
- Montana
- Vermont
- Colorado
- Hawaii
- Washington
- Iowa
-Source: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index
Healthways is a health and well-being improvement company based in Franklin, Tenn., while Gallup is a global research and analytics firm with headquarters in Washington D.C. and Omaha, Neb.
The report shows that North Dakota residents have the highest well-being in the nation at 70.4 followed by its neighbor South Dakota in second place with a score of 70.0 — its highest score in six years of measurement. The Cornhusker State of Nebraska ranked No. 3, followed by Minnesota at No. 4 and Montana rounding out the top five in fifth place.
The Aloha State of Hawaii, which had held the top spot for the previous four years, fell to No. 8 last year with a score of 68.4. Conversely, West Virginia and Kentucky held on to the two lowest well-being scores for the fifth year in a row.
The state-level data was based on telephone interviews with American adults across all 50 states, conducted from January to December of 2013. The index score for the nation and for each state is an average of six sub-indexes, including life evaluation — present life situation and anticipated life situation; emotional health — daily feelings and mental state; work environment — job satisfaction and workplace interactions; physical health — physical ability to live a full life; healthy behavior — engaging in behaviors that affect physical health; and basic access — feeling safe, satisfied, and optimistic within a community.
The Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, with a score of 100 representing ideal well-being. The overall index score for the nation in 2013 dipped to 66.2 from 66.7 in 2012, and matched the previous low measured in 2011, the report shows.
Nationwide, Midwestern and Western states earned nine of the 10 highest well-being scores, while Southern states tallied eight of the 10 lowest scores.
Beginning this year, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index will include an updated set of questions. The index will now include five more elements of well-being, each with its own score on a 0 to 10 scale.
The new elements include: purpose — liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals; social — having supportive relationships and love in your life; financial — managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security; community — liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community; and physical — having good health and enough energy to get things done daily.
