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Indiana is mostly unhappy, study shows

Posted at 12:25 PM, Jul 22, 2014
and last updated 2018-07-01 12:49:41-04

If you live in Indiana, there's a good chance you are unhappy.

That's the conclusion of an "Unhappy Cities" study done by researchers from Harvard University and the University of British Columbia.

The research compiled data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and adjusted it to factor in demographics, such as race, income, sex and age.

Three Indiana metropolitan areas rank in the bottom 10 for happiness, with South Bend ranked as the No. 3 least happy city in the U.S.

Evansville was ranked as the No. 5 least happy city, and Gary is the ninth least happy city, the results showed.

Fort Wayne and Indianapolis are also near the bottom of the happiness list, with Indianapolis scoring as the 6th most unhappy city with a population larger than 1 million.

Cities that border Indiana are also largely unhappy, including Cincinnati and Louisville, according to the study.

If that weren't enough, rural areas of Indiana also rank high on the unhappiness list.

The study determined that the happiest parts of the U.S. include most of Louisiana, rural areas of Georgia and most of Colorado.

New York City was ranked as the least happy large city.

Aside from Indiana, pockets of Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Pennsylvania rank among least happy states.

The study was based on CDC data from 2005-2009 before demographic adjustments.