From Gallup-Healthways March 7, 2017

This report, part of the Gallup-Healthways State of American Well-Being series, examines well-being across the nation, with 189 communities ranked based on their Well-Being Index score. The report analyzes how well-being varies by community, as well as who leads and lags across the five elements of well-being—purpose, social, financial, community and physical. The data and insights from this report can be used as a call-to-action for communities around the country, leveraging it to benchmark and identify opportunities for well-being improvement.

In 2015–2016, many of the top well-being communities hail from California (seven in the top 25), Colorado (three), Texas (three), Florida (two) and Virginia (two). There is strong consistency historically, as 17 communities returned to the top 25 in 2015-2016, as compared to 2014-2015. The highest well-being community in the country in 2015–2016 is Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL, with a well-being score of 66.3. Barnstable Town, MA was number two, followed by Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA, Urban Honolulu, HI, Charlottesville, VA, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL, and San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, CA. Naples is a community with a track record of high well-being, and this is its second consecutive year as number one. Boulder, CO and Provo-Orem, UT are the only other communities to be in the top spot multiple times since measurement started in 2008. In 2015–2016, Naples had the country’s highest number of residents thriving in community well-being, highest rates of healthy eating, lowest rates of daily stress, and lowest lifetime diagnoses of depression.

Other leading communities include El Paso, TX, Visalia-Porterville, CA, and Naples for purpose well-being; Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, SC, Barnstable, and Naples for social well-being; Sarasota, Anchorage, AK, and Honolulu for financial well-being; Naples, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Cruz for community well-being; and Barnstable, Boulder and Naples for physical well-being.

In terms of low well-being, California (three), Ohio (three), Oklahoma (three), Arkansas (three), and Texas (two) each had multiple communities that ranked in the lowest 25. Fort Smith, AR-OK, Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC, Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Topeka, KS, Canton-Massillon, OH, Flint, MI, Chico, CA, and Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX all had Well-Being Index scores of 59.5 or less in 2015–2016. Fort Smith had the country’s lowest social, financial and physical well-being in 2015–2016; while Burlington-South Burlington, VT was lowest in purpose well-being and Fayetteville, NC was lowest in community well-being.

PDF: 2016 Community Well-Being Rankings (Urban Honolulu #4 with a score of 65.4)

PDF: State by State Reports  (Hawaii #1 with a score of 65.2)