Texans say they’re not as well-off as they were a year ago, according to a new Gallup-Healthways poll measuring each state's well-being. But despite the drop, Texas' well-being index number is pretty high compared to other states'.
Since 2008, Gallup-Healthways has issued its annual report, the State of American Well-Being, which analyzes five facets of wellness: Sense of Purpose, Social Relationships, Financial Security, Relationship to Community and Physical Health.
The scores from these categories are averaged to yield an overall well-being score for each of the 50 states. The 2015 study found that the U.S. increased its overall well-being score by a tenth of a point, from 61.6 to 61.7.
Although Texas’ overall score for the year 2015 dropped by one point since the previous year, the state ranked No. 11 out of all 50 states.
Where did Texas rank in each category?
No. 2 in Sense of Purpose: Defined as “liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals.”
No. 11 in Social Relationships: Defined as “having supportive relationships and love in your life.”
No. 35 in Financial Security: Texas’ lowest ranking is in the category that represents “managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security.”
No. 18 in Relationship to Community: Where community means “liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community.”
No. 20 in Physical Health: Defined as “Having good health and enough energy to get things done daily.”
Hawaii came out on top with an overall score of 64.8. Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Alaska make up the rest of the top five. West Virginia continues its streak of coming in fiftieth – and this year is the only state with a score below the 60-point mark.
The data informing these results was collected by Gallup-Healthways through about 177,000 interviews conducted between January and December 2015. As for the ranking system, a difference of just 0.5 points is considered statistically significant.
For more in-depth explanations of how the Gallup-Healthways polling process works, and how they get to their final rankings, Gallup has information here.