Tennessee was the seventh most miserable state in the union last year, according to a new study.
The results are from polling firm Gallup and Healthways, a Franklin, Tenn.-based health care company. They are based on surveys of more than 4,000 in Tennessee on 55 measures of well-being, like body mass index, sick days taken, history of disease, work habits, and more.
- Gallup-Healthways
Tennessee ranked close to the bottom in the five major categories of well being used in the study: life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, and basic access to food, shelter, healthcare, and safety.
Tennessee’s company on the list is a cluster of states including, West Virginia (50), Kentucky (49), Mississippi (48), Alabama (47), Ohio (46), Arkansas (45), Missouri (43), Oklahoma (42), and Louisiana (41).
Tennessee’s average rank on the list has been around the 43rd mark since the companies began the survey in 2008. The state did rise three positions from its fourth-place finish in last year’s report.
The top 10 for the 2013 were North Dakota (1), South Dakota (2), Nebraska (3), Minnesota (4), Montana (5), Vermont (6), Colorado (7), Hawaii (8), Washington (9), and Iowa (10).
