Disney World may be the “Happiest Place on Earth,” but Louisiana is the happiest state in the U.S. According to a paper from Harvard University and University of British Columbia researchers, the five happiest cities in the nation are all located in Louisiana: Lafayette, Houma, Shreveport-Bossier City, Baton Rouge and Alexandria.
The paper, co-authored by Harvard University economics professor Ed Glaeser, University of British Columbia assistant professor Joshua Gottlieb, and Harvard economics doctoral candidate Oren Ziv, investigates the “persistent differences in self-reported subjective well-being across U.S. metropolitan areas.” Currently, the study is under revision at the Journal of Labor Economics.
The research consisted of data from the Centers for Disease Control Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System life satisfaction survey and other peer-reviewed sources. A scoring system for happiness was created and adjusted to control for age, ethnicity and race, relationship status, family size, employment and income.
Lake Charles ranked No. 8, Monroe No. 17 and New Orleans was No. 59. The unhappiest city listed was New York City.
Joy Cobert, a real estate agent in Lafayette, said she agrees with Lafayette’s ranking as the happiest city in the nation.
“Lafayette has a small, close-knit feel, and everybody is super friendly and they love this community,” Cobert said. “Everyone is very supportive of this community, but it has all the resources of a big city.”
One goal of the study was to investigate why “unhappy cities” are still experiencing population growth. The researchers found that the desire for happiness is not the only motivation for people’s actions.
“An alternative view is that humans are quite understandably willing to sacrifice both happiness and life satisfaction if the price is right,” the authors wrote in the paper’s conclusion. “Indeed, the residents of unhappier metropolitan areas today do receive higher wages presumably as compensation for their misery.”
LSU journalism junior and Lafayette native Randee Iles said that the Cajun culture of Lafayette is what makes the people happy.