Hawaii Is the Happiest State in the Nation, Survey Finds

Digital Vision/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- If Hawaii’s sunshine and beautiful beaches aren’t enough to get you to travel to The Aloha State, perhaps the happiness of its citizens will do the trick.

Hawaii is the happiest state in the nation in 2011, according to a new Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. America's 50th state ranked number one, followed by North Dakota and Alaska.  At the bottom of the list is West Virginia.

The Well-Being Index score is an average of several factors, including job satisfaction, physical health, emotional health, access to health care and community satisfaction.  Scores are calculated on an ascending scale of 0 to 100.  The Well-Being Index is based on surveys of more than 177,000 Americans conducted between January and June 2011.

Here are the 50 U.S. states in order of their well-being scores:

Hawaii: 71.1
North Dakota: 70.5
Alaska: 69.4
Nebraska: 68.4
Minnesota: 68.3
Colorado: 68.3
Utah: 68.1
New Hampshire: 67.9
Iowa: 67.9
Kansas: 67.8
Vermont: 67.8
Maryland: 67.8
Massachusetts: 67.7
South Dakota: 67.6
Virginia: 67.6
California: 67.5
Washington: 67.2
Oregon: 67.2
Montana: 67.1
Connecticut: 66.9
Arizona: 66.9
New Mexico: 66.8
Idaho: 66.7
Wisconsin: 66.6
Maine: 66.6
Texas: 66.6
New Jersey: 66.5
Wyoming: 66.5
North Carolina: 66.5
Rhode Island: 66.2
Illinois: 66.2
Georgia: 66.2
Delaware: 66.0
Nevada: 65.9
Pennsylvania: 65.8
Michigan: 65.8
South Carolina: 65.7
Florida: 65.4
New York: 65.2
Missouri: 65.1
Alabama: 65.1
Indiana: 64.9
Arkansas: 64.9
Oklahoma: 64.8
Tennessee: 64.7
Louisiana: 64.6
Ohio: 64.4
Mississippi: 63.6
Kentucky: 63.0
West Virginia: 62.4

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio