America's Happiest and Most Depressed Cities

[sugar and spice]

Haha, I live in Portland. And the city I moved here from was on the "twenty happiest cities" list, at least in 2005.

Obviously these polls are unscientific, but this seems even less credible than most. They only take the negative factors into account, not balancing them out with the positive ones. So a city with the best restaurants and entertainment in the entire world would score badly if it was regularly cloudy and the unemployment rate was higher than other comparable cities. And a city in the middle of the desert with nothing in it but concrete boxes for housing would rank pretty highly as long as the concrete house-building trade was steady.

Not to mention, when you look at their stats a little more closely--depression rates, for example, are based on sales of anti-depressants. So Portland doesn't have more depressed people, it has more people taking anti-depressants, which would arguably make them . . . less depressed. Right?

Besides, I kind of like the rain.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by sugar and spice

Haha, I live in Portland. And the city I moved here from was on the "twenty happiest cities" list, at least in 2005.

I was surprised that Portland was on the list--I've heard nothing but good things about it. A lot of people leave the East Coast for Portland, and they're really happy.

None of the other cities surprise me, though, since they depress me.

[KSigkid]

The only city that surprised me was Portland, because of all the good things I've heard from people living out there. I was also surprised Hartford didn't make the list.

I love when these lists come out, because then the people from the respective cities start with the "My city can't be on the list." It's like when someone dares criticize the city where a Super Bowl takes place. People get so defensive about their cities, these kinds of lists get some pretty strong reactions.

[Munchkin03]

See, that surprises me as well. I figured that if any state was ahead of the curve with "green-collar" jobs, that it'd be Oregon. But, if the state relies a lot on forestry, maybe not so much...?

I've also heard great things about Seattle. The time for me to leave NYC is nigh, and I'm starting to think about cities to which to relocate within the next 3-4 years.

[AGDee]

The number of people on anti-depressants may also correlate to how many people have health insurance which pays for those anti-depressants. Many folks aren't going to take meds for a non-life threatening ailment if they don't have insurance. Definitely not scientific, but I fully expected Detroit to be on the top of the list. People are totally freaking out here and the Lions didn't win any games at all last season.

[honeychile]

I tend to think that these poll makers go into it with an agenda of sorts. Last year, Pittsburgh was on top of one "happy" poll and near the bottom of another. The variables have to be equalized to have them mean anything truly important.

I love the beauty of the Seattle area, but I've never lived there. Having severe allergy problems, I don't think I could live in a city so dedicated to mold.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I tend to think that these poll makers go into it with an agenda of sorts. Last year, Pittsburgh was on top of one "happy" poll and near the bottom of another. The variables have to be equalized to have them mean anything truly important.

I love the beauty of the Seattle area, but I've never lived there. Having severe allergy problems, I don't think I could live in a city so dedicated to mold.

What sort of agenda would they have, though? An axe to grind against a certain city?

Every city has a reputation, heck, every area of the country has a reputation. People have notions about Pittsburgh, Detroit, Boston, NYC, Washington DC, and lots of other cities. There are assumptions made about Southerners, Northerners, New Englanders, West Coast people, etc. It's not really a big deal (unless you're part of a city's tourism bureau); some cities are more depressing than others, some are more fun than others, it just is what it is.

[sugar and spice]

Oregon has been hit pretty hard by the recession. Portland less so than other parts of Oregon, but still more than similar-sized cities in the rest of the country.

On the plus side, we've had a lot more sun this year than is normal. Yay for global warming!

Seattle is fun, too. The Pacific Northwest is just being unfairly punished by our preponderance of rainy days.