Louisiana Is One Of The 5 Unhappiest States For 2020 In New Study

Are you unhappy? Maybe a little depressed? 2020 has that impact on people, and also, if you live in Louisiana, you're not alone. New research from the personal finance website WalletHub shows that Louisiana is one of the 5 Unhappiest States in America.

In fact, the research shows Louisiana is the 4th Unhappiest State in America, behind Oklahoma at 3, Arkansas at 2, and West Virginia at #1.

The research was put together by at least 6 researchers with Ph.Ds, including multiple Professors of Psychology from across the country. Which probably explains why they went so deep on this research. They looked at a staggering 32 different metrics to get their answers. Some of those include Separation & Divorce Rate, Job Satisfaction, Job Security, Number of Work Hours, Suicide Rate, Life Expectancy, as well as a couple of COVID-19 metrics.

Some of the metrics are weighted more than others, meaning they are considered more important to the overall score. Here are some of the highlighted areas where Louisiana performed at the bottom of the charts:

-3rd Lowest Sports Participation Rate

-5th Most Work Hours 

-1st Lowest Income Growth

-5th Highest Divorce Rate

-2nd Least Safe

Some of these key metrics carried Double Weighting in the research, and the combination that hurts Louisiana the most in the research has to do with work. The combination of Most Worked Hours and Lowest Income Growth are a toxic mix. That pair means people in our state work more than almost any other state, and don't benefit from the extra work. Having the Lowest Income Growth in the country is a dagger for the state.