THE drumpf/trump-pence effect, and it will only get worse for more and more people. MIDTERM ELECTIONS ARE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 2018, VOTE!!! From Mother Jones and Gallup.....
Researchers Just Found the Key to Your Well-Being and It’s Not Money
For a lot of people, it’s actually about having more diverse neighbors.
Your sense of well-being likely depends on a few specific characteristics about where you live—and it’s definitely not just about the money. It turns out that diverse neighborhoods, specifically those with more black residents, commuting by public transportation or bike, and having access to health care are all top factors associated with greater well-being, a new study finds.
Although self-reported, well-being—defined as “a person’s cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life”—is one crucial way to measure the health of a community. Science shows that people with higher well-being levels live healthier, longer lives than people who report lower well-being. And while regional well-being is understood at a large scale, this study aims to explain exactly why some people are living better lives at the county-level.
As part of a national Gallup-Sharecare poll, nearly 340,000 American adults, both English- and Spanish-speaking, answered questions about their lives—their standard of living, satisfaction with community, work, relationships, and personal health, to name a few—by telephone between 2010 and 2012.
Based on their answers, a team of scientists led by researchers from Yale and the University of Cincinnati, assigned each person a “well-being” score. Then, they compared Americans’ self-reported well-being levels to more than 70 different demographic, social-economic, medical, and physical environmental factors within their county, to measure which ones wielded the greatest influence on people’s life satisfaction. The results published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.
“The question in this study was whether we could actually find specific place-based attributes that are linked to well-being,” Brita Roy, an assistant professor of medicine at Yale’s School of Medicine and the lead author on the study, tells Mother Jones.
In addition to living in diverse neighborhoods, access to public transportation, and health care, the group also found, perhaps expectedly, that areas with a greater percent of people with bachelor’s degrees and with higher household incomes report greater well-being; meanwhile, people report less well-being in places with high rates of divorce and child poverty.
Just as interesting is what researchers found didn’t make a difference: The unemployment rate, crime rate, and the percent of people who commute by walking. Each of these factors had no statistically significant effect on people’s well-being.
While the study doesn’t disclose which specific counties had the best and worst well-being scores, the most recent Gallup-Sharecare poll identifies the metropolitan area Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma as having the worst overall well-being, with places including Binghamton, New York, and Flint, Michigan, also coming in with some of the country’s lowest scores. On the other end, Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Boulder, Colorado, and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California, are in the top five areas for overall well-being.
“If a person has strong social support, they’re well-connected with friends and family…if they have access to basic needs—health care, healthy foods—they feel safe walking in their neighborhoods, and have basic physical functioning and mental health, with those resources, those people will thrive,” Roy says.
Americans' Well-Being Declines in 2017
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- This year marks a reversal of the three-year upward trend
- Minorities, women, low-income adults and Democrats bear brunt of decline
- Emotional and psychological metrics are primary source of drop
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Overall well-being among U.S. adults has declined substantially this year. The Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index score so far in 2017 is 61.5, down 0.6 points from 62.1 in 2016 and on par with the lower level recorded in 2014. This decline is both statistically significant and meaningfully large.
U.S. Well-Being Index Score, Trended (2014-2017 YTD)
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2017 vs. 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| All adults | 61.6 | 61.7 | 62.1 | 61.5 | -0.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 YTD data collection: Jan. 2-Sept. 30, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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These data are drawn from more than 135,000 interviews with U.S. adults across all 50 states from Jan. 2-Sept. 30, 2017, and more than 176,000 interviews each year in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest possible well-being and 100 represents the highest possible well-being. The Well-Being Index consists of metrics drawn from each of the five essential elements of well-being:
- Purpose: liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals
- Social: having supportive relationships and love in your life
- Financial: managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
- Community: liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community
- Physical: having good health and enough energy to get things done daily
Help employees lead a life well-lived.
Gallup can help you create a comprehensive well-being strategy to change lives and improve business performance.
Gallup can help you create a comprehensive well-being strategy to change lives and improve business performance.
Democrats' Well-Being Drops Sharply; Republicans' Unchanged
Democrats have suffered a significant decline in overall well-being so far in 2017 compared with 2016. The 0.9-point drop in Democrats' Well-Being Index score is at least triple the decline seen among Republicans and independents. Independents had a statistically significant decline of 0.3 points, while Republicans' well-being is statistically unchanged. The decline among Democrats comes after a notable improvement in 2016, and their well-being is now below 2014 levels.
U.S. Well-Being Index Score, Trended, by Political Identity
"In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat or an independent?"
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Change since 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrat | 61.4 | 61.5 | 62.0 | 61.1 | -0.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Independent | 60.6 | 60.4 | 60.6 | 60.3 | -0.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Republican | 63.9 | 64.1 | 64.1 | 63.9 | -0.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 YTD data collection: Jan. 2-Sept. 30, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Women, Blacks, Hispanics, Low-Income See Large Drops
The overall decline in well-being is concentrated among demographic groups that tend to align with the Democratic Party. Women have had a substantial 1.1-point drop in their Well-Being Index score, while the score for men is unchanged. Across the four major racial and ethnic groups, well-being has dropped the most among blacks and Hispanics, although it has also come down to a lesser degree among whites and Asians. Americans living in lower-income households saw a significant drop in well-being, while their higher-income counterparts saw a smaller decrease, no change or a slight increase.
U.S. Well-Being Index Score, Trended by Gender, Race/Ethnicity and Income
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2017 vs. 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Male | 60.9 | 61.1 | 61.4 | 61.4 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Female | 62.4 | 62.4 | 62.8 | 61.7 | -1.1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Race/Ethnicity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| White | 61.7 | 61.8 | 62.2 | 61.9 | -0.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Black | 59.4 | 59.5 | 59.8 | 58.5 | -1.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Asian | 64.4 | 63.8 | 64.6 | 64.0 | -0.6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hispanic | 62.9 | 62.9 | 63.3 | 62.3 | -1.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Annual income | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Less than $24,000 | 56.6 | 56.3 | 56.4 | 54.2 | -2.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| $24,000-<$48,000 | 60.0 | 59.7 | 59.7 | 58.8 | -0.9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| $48,000-<$90,000 | 62.8 | 62.6 | 62.5 | 62.5 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| $90,000-<$120,000 | 64.3 | 64.0 | 64.4 | 64.4 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| $120,000+ | 65.7 | 66.2 | 66.4 | 66.7 | +0.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 YTD data collection: Jan. 2-Sept. 30, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GALLUP-SHARECARE WELL-BEING INDEX | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Emotional Health, Social and Purpose Well-Being All Worsen
The overall decline in well-being in 2017 is driven by dips in emotional health, social well-being and purpose well-being.
In terms of emotional health, the percentage of adults who report experiencing significant worry on any given day is up, as is the percentage who report having little interest or pleasure in doing things at least some of the time.
Social well-being shows similar declines. Fewer Americans agree that their friends and family provide them with positive energy every day and that someone in their life always encourages them to be healthy, while more disagree with the statement.
Purpose well-being indicators have also receded. Fewer agree and more disagree that there is a leader in their life who makes them enthusiastic about the future and that they like what they do each day.
All of these metrics were highly stable from 2014 through 2016, and in each case the negative movement so far in 2017 is highly statistically significant.
Key Well-Being Metrics Worsen in 2017
Areas of decline center on emotional and psychological aspects of well-being
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Change since 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Significant daily worry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % Yes | 30.0 | 29.9 | 29.5 | 32.1 | +2.6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Little interest or pleasure in doing things | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % At least some days each week | 35.7 | 34.7 | 33.8 | 41.1 | +7.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friends and family give positive energy daily | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % 4+5 (Agree) | 76.2 | 76.0 | 76.6 | 74.6 | -2.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % 1+2 (Disagree) | 9.0 | 9.2 | 8.9 | 10.2 | +1.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Someone in life encourages good health | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % 4+5 (Agree) | 75.5 | 75.1 | 75.6 | 73.5 | -2.1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % 1+2 (Disagree) | 11.0 | 11.1 | 10.9 | 12.9 | +2.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader in life creates enthusiasm for future | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % 4+5 (Agree) | 60.5 | 60.8 | 61.3 | 59.5 | -1.8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % 1+2 (Disagree) | 21.5 | 21.3 | 20.8 | 23.0 | +2.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Like what you do each day | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % 4+5 (Agree) | 76.1 | 76.2 | 77.3 | 74.5 | -2.8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| % 1+2 (Disagree) | 9.0 | 8.9 | 8.4 | 9.6 | +1.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 YTD data collection: Jan. 2-Sept. 30, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GALLUP-SHARECARE WELL-BEING INDEX | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The remaining three elements, financial, physical and community well-being, have had much smaller changes thus far in 2017. Community well-being is unchanged, while financial and physical well-being are both down slightly.
Implications
After rising in 2016, the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index score has reversed course this year. This drop comes even as key economic metrics closely related to well-being have improved, including unemployment, perceptions of standard of living, confidence in the economy and optimism about spending.
Other signs of worsening well-being in the U.S. include an uptick in the uninsured rate for three quarters in a row and reports of elevated daily worry, particularly among Spanish-speaking Hispanics.
This drop in well-being is important for leaders to monitor and address because research shows the Well-Being Index predicts key health, business and social outcomes.
Read more about the decline in social well-being this past year on the new lifestyle and culture website, Quartzy.
SURVEY METHODS
Results are based on 135,426 telephone interviews with U.S. adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, conducted from Jan. 2-Sept. 30, 2017. In 2016, 2015, and 2014, a total of 177,192, 177,281 and 176,702 interviews, respectively, were conducted from Jan. 2-Dec. 30 of each year. Gallup conducts 500 telephone interviews daily, resulting in a sample that projects to an estimated 95% of all U.S. adults.
The Well-Being Index margin of sampling error for the reported groups will range from about ±0.2 points for the U.S. and for whites to about ±0.3 points for blacks and Hispanics to about ±0.6 points for Asians. The margin of error for demographic groups will be no larger than ±0.3 points. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects due to weighting.
Each daily sample of national adults for data collected between Jan. 2, 2014 and Sept. 1, 2015, comprised 50% cellphone respondents and 50% landline respondents. Each daily sample from Sept. 1, 2015-Dec. 30, 2016, comprised 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents. Daily samples in 2017 comprise 70% cellphone respondents and 30% landline respondents. Additional minimum quotas by time zone and within region are included in the sampling approach.
Learn more about how the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index works.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island at or near top of list across all well-being elements
- Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma, residents had the lowest well-being
- Boulder, Colorado, leads nation in physical well-being
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the third straight year, the Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida, metro area has the highest well-being across 186 U.S. communities, based on data collected in 2016 and 2017 as part of the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index. Barnstable Town, Massachusetts; Boulder, Colorado; Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California; and Charlottesville, Virginia, round out the top five metro areas.
Highest 20 Communities, Overall Well-Being in 2016-2017
Out of 186 reportable Metropolitan Statistical Areas nationwide
| Well-Being Index score | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL | 67.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barnstable Town, MA | 66.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boulder, CO | 65.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA | 65.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Charlottesville, VA | 65.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lynchburg, VA | 64.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL | 64.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Santa Rosa, CA | 64.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prescott, AZ | 64.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, CA | 64.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA | 64.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ann Arbor, MI | 64.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Salinas, CA | 64.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fort Collins, CO | 64.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| El Paso, TX | 64.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portland-South Portland, ME | 63.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lancaster, PA | 63.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Urban Honolulu, HI | 63.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Asheville, NC | 63.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 63.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GALLUP-SHARECARE WELL-BEING INDEX | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
After having the seventh-highest well-being community in 2012-2013, the Naples area ascended to the top spot in 2014-2015 and has since remained there. This marks the first time in 10 years of annual Well-Being Index reporting that the same community has topped the rankings three times in a row.
The Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest possible well-being and 100 represents the highest possible well-being. The Well-Being Index score for the U.S. and for each community is made up of metrics within each of the five essential elements of well-being:
- Purpose: liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals
- Social: having supportive relationships and love in your life
- Financial: managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
- Community: liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community
- Physical: having good health and enough energy to get things done daily
In most cases, a difference of 1.0 to 2.0 points in the Well-Being Index score of any two communities represents a statistically significant gap and is characterized by meaningfully large differences in at least some of the individual metrics that make up the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index.
The Well-Being Index score for the Naples metro area has climbed to 67.6 for 2016-2017 from 66.3 in 2015-2016. This uptick has come amid a significant decline in well-being nationally.
Gallup tracks well-being in metro areas using two-year rolling averages, allowing for larger sample sizes that improve the statistical accuracy of the data and allow more communities to be reported each year. The two-year rolling measurement periods for communities mean that data from interviews conducted during 2016 are included in both the 2015-2016 report and the 2016-2017 report.
Each of the top five communities for 2016-2017 have frequented the list of the top 10 well-being communities numerous times in prior years. Other top communities that typically have ranked among the highest for well-being since 2008 include Lynchburg, Virginia; North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida; the San Luis Obispo, California, metro; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Urban Honolulu, Hawaii.
Prescott, Arizona, broke into the highest 10 list for the first time this cycle after finishing 13thin 2015-2016.
Fort Smith Again Has Lowest Well-Being in U.S.
Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma, had the lowest overall well-being of the 186 communities, making this the third straight time that Fort Smith was among the two lowest communities for well-being. As with the top communities, most of the lowest well-being communities in 2016-2017 have consistently been near the bottom of the list since 2008, including Canton-Massillon, Ohio; Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, North Carolina; Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Mississippi; and Flint, Michigan. The South Bend, Indiana-Michigan, community slipped into the lowest 10 this year for the first time.
Lowest 10 Communities, Overall Well-Being in 2016-2017
Out of 186 reportable Metropolitan Statistical Areas nationwide
| Well-Being Index score | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Smith, AR-OK | 58.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canton-Massillon, OH | 58.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, MS | 58.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC | 58.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Binghamton, NY | 58.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI | 59.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Erie, PA | 59.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fayetteville, NC | 59.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rockford, IL | 59.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Flint, MI | 59.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GALLUP-SHARECARE WELL-BEING INDEX | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Highest, Lowest Communities Reflect State Well-Being Patterns
Nationally, the U.S. map of highest and lowest well-being communities generally reflects the pattern found across states, with the lowest well-being metro areas found primarily in the South and then winding north up through the industrial Midwest. The highest well-being metro areas are scattered across the Eastern Seaboard as well as the Mountain West and West.
Naples Metro Area Among Nation's Best in All Five Elements
The Naples metro area was among the top two communities in the U.S. across all five elements of well-being, the first time that a single community has shown such broad-based well-being.
Highlights for top-ranking communities in other areas of well-being in 2016-2017 include:
- Boulder, a longtime pacesetter nationally in physical well-being, was the top U.S. community on this element. The state of California had three of the next four highest-rated metro areas in the physical element: Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and Santa Barbara.
- Texas leads the nation in purpose well-being with two communities in the top five for the element -- McAllen and El Paso -- mirroring 2015-2016 results. Naples; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Salinas, California, were other top communities for purpose well-being.
- Barnstable Town residents have the second-highest social well-being after Naples area residents but edge out Naples for the top spot for community well-being, followed by the San Luis Obispo metro area and Prescott, Arizona.
- After Naples, the top metro areas in financial well-being are Barnstable Town, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Charlottesville, Virginia.
Residents of Fort Smith were among the five lowest-ranked communities in four of the five elements: purpose, social, financial and physical. Similarly, Canton-Massillon residents were among the bottom four nationally in purpose, social and physical well-being.
Poor performance in the community element of well-being was the most predictive indicator of low well-being generally, with six of the 10 lowest communities in the overall Well-Being Index also ranking among the lowest 10 for the community element. Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Rockford, Illinois, had the lowest well-being in the community element, while Flint, Michigan, remained among the lowest five nationally.
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Implications
Some communities have managed to thrive in their well-being amid significant declines nationally. Chief among these is the Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island metro area, which has maintained the top spot three times in a row. Despite statistical declines in well-being across the state of Florida in 2017, Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island has seen its two-year Well-Being Index score improve, demonstrating that local efforts make it possible for communities to buck state and national trends.
The Naples metro area's well-being success may be in part because the area attracts individuals with high well-being to begin with. Older Americans -- who make up a larger percentage of the population in Naples than what is found nationally -- have widely better well-being than their younger counterparts.
But Naples has not always been a top well-being community. As recently as 2011, this area had the 73rd-highest well-being out of 190 communities reported nationally. At least some of the improvement seen in recent years may have been driven by the Blue Zones Project in the Naples area. This program, which seeks to make healthy choices easier for residents to make, has been used in the area since 2015.
The Naples area's success adds to other evidence demonstrating that having high well-being across all five elements yields better outcomes than physical wellness alone. Naples' nearly clean sweep across the five elements shows that efforts to enhance all aspects of residents' well-being can pay off. Naples can serve as a blueprint for lasting well-being success, and community leaders across the nation can follow this blueprint and adapt it to meet the needs of their areas' own residents.
View the complete results in Sharecare's report, State of American Well-Being: 2017 Community Well-Being Rankings.
SURVEY METHODS
Results are based a subset of 337,690 telephone interviews with U.S. adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, conducted from Jan. 2, 2016-Dec. 30, 2017. In 2016, 177,192 interviews were conducted nationally; in 2017, 160,498 interviews were conducted. Gallup conducts 500 telephone interviews daily, resulting in a sample that projects to an estimated 95% of all U.S. adults. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) are based on U.S. Office of Management and Budget definitions. Only MSAs with at least 300 completed interviews are reported, and results for each MSA are uniquely weighted according to Nielsen Claritas demographic targets.
The Well-Being Index margin of sampling error for the reported communities will range from about ±1.7 points for the least populated to about ±0.3 points for the most heavily populated. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects due to weighting.
Each daily sample of national adults for data collected in 2016 comprises 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents. Each daily sample in 2017 comprises 70% cellphone and 30% landline. Additional minimum quotas by time zone and within region are included in the sampling approach.
Learn more about how the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index works.
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