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New Yorkers Are the Unhappiest People in the Country

By DNAinfo Staff on December 21, 2009 2:56pm  | Updated on December 22, 2009 7:48am

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

Well, that figures.

New Yorkers are the most unhappy people in the United States, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control.

The report measured happiness on self-reported 'pleasant' feelings as well as lifestyle metrics including cost of living and air pollution.

By those standards, Louisiana is the happiest place in the United States, followed by Colorado, Hawaii, Florida and Tennessee.

New York's expensive living quarters, long commutes and congestion all add up to widespread misery, according to the study's authors Andrew J. Oswald and Stephen Wu.

States with similar harsh winters and difficult economies, Connecticut, Michigan, Indiana, New Jersey, and California, joined New York at the bottom of the barrel.

New Yorkers are the unhappiest people in America, according to a new poll.
New Yorkers are the unhappiest people in America, according to a new poll.
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Flickr/Mike Lee Org

"Many people think these states would be marvelous places to live in," Oswald said to 1010 Wins.

"The problem is that if too many individuals think that way, they move into those states, and the resulting congestion and house prices make it a non-fulfilling prophecy.''

In reaction to the report, New Yorkers responded in kind.

"Why would we be unhappy? What's the unhappy part?" said James Pine to CBS.

While general economic measures may favor other regions, the cache of living in New York can't necessarily be captured in a scientific study, said psychologist Rob Reiner to CBS.

"There's a certain grit to New York, a certain pride about surviving here," Reiner said. "This is the place people come from all over the world when they want to show their stuff. These subtle things can't be so easily measured, but they count."