In case you missed it, the Associated Press just put out an article titled, ‘People in Sunny States Happiest, New York Least’. The article went on to state that people in sunny and outdoorsy states are among the happiest in the country. People are supposedly most happy in states with good climates, low crime rates, good air quality, and good schools. All of these factors makes perfect sense to me except for one small part of the article. How in the world does a state filled with crime, extreme temperatures, illegals, piss poor schools, no jobs, and nothing to do but drink to excess rank fifth in the entire country? That’s right, Arizona has been ranked in the top five states with the happiest people.
The only thing Arizona even comes close to having on the ‘happiness checklist’ is abundant sunshine and more often than not the sunshine is filtered through the brown cloud which is just about permanently planted over the Phoenix area these days. If you have considered moving to Arizona for the sunshine or the supposed glorious weather, remember just this one thing. Abundant sunshine isn’t going to pay your bills and it surely isn’t going to stop your children from being robbed at gun point while on the school bus.
Arizona is not an outdoorsy state and there really aren’t many exciting outdoor activities if that is your thing, especially so in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The main outdoor activity in Arizona is hiking and that can only be done safely for about half of the year or so. The most popular outdoor activity amongst most Arizonans is getting plowed outside on a bar’s patio.
You’d be an idiot to think a state full of uneducated degenerates and illegals is going to have low crime rates. The crime in Arizona has been continually on the rise and it is only going to get worse. Not to mention the crimes in this state are truly like something out of a horror movie.
The brown cloud and the traffic backups speaks enough for the air quality in Arizona. While, Arizona’s dead last ranking in public education tells the whole story of Arizona’s education system. Remember, it doesn’t matter if you think you are in a good school district – your kids are still far behind the rest of the country.
In the end, it couldn’t be more obvious that the writer of this article has never been to and has certainly not lived in Arizona, but this ranking is still worth a laugh especially for those of us who know the truth about Arizona and aren’t living in some sort of fantasy state of mind. Share your thoughts about Arizona’s ranking below.
Merry Christmas!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-12-18-happiest-states_N.htm
Errr, looks like the happiest states are the some of the lowest educated states. New York is lowest probably because it’s very expensive and if you haven’t noticed, the center of finance and business in this country. Unless you’re a total idiot and haven’t noticed, New Yorkers probably aren’t very happy since their cost of living has not decreased and they have been completely slammed by the financial problems of the past few years. Still got a hole in the ground where a new skyscraper was promised, and kazillionaires becoming homeless every hour.
It could be easier to be happy if you don’t have squat in the stock market when it loses 50% of it’s value. Could be easier if you don’t expect much in life and just focus on having a good time, a lot of the places in the upper ranks of happiness aren’t really concerned about tomorrow, just having fun today.
Louisiana still has oil field strength and they eat a whole bunch of crawfish etouffe and just live for the moment. Who knows what’s with Florida, probably same as AZ- if you’re retired with a whole bunch of cash, have arthritis and asthma which doesn’t act up much, plus don’t have to shovel snow, you’d be happy too.
There are some good areas of AZ around Prescott, Sedona, Flagstaff. But fifth place? C’mon, give us a break.
Whenever they mention anything good about AZ, Phoenix is understood to not be included. They probably glean all the good data from retirees in good areas.
Very, very few people are happy when it’s 115 out in August, total bullshit.
No doubt. Look at all the articles in the newspaper about violent crimes in Tucson and Phoenix. Very few people in Tucson smile or even say hi unless you really , really know them. When someone is screaming at you to move ahead at the stop sign or threatning to call the police on you for no reason, do you think they do it with a smile on their face? Do you think the man who killed his daughter and stuffed her in a storage shed was smiling? Yes, the warm weather solves all problems. And people honk their horns here in Tucson because they are so friendly. Gimme a break!!!!
If I could have my current job (Phx) in Flagstaff, I think I’d be much happier.
If ignorance is bliss, then I guess stupidity is ecstasy…
You have to be some dumbed down shithead to be taken seriously. If you talk intellectually, appear to think things through several times before acting, and talk faster than a 70 year old, people will despise you.
When I manage to talk to people from other states, they sort of just laugh when asked about living here. Strange how they are usually nicer people to talk to. In fact when I run into people who just talk while in line or biking/hiking somewhere, I just assume they are visiting or recently moved here and 4 out of five times I’m right.
Don’t know how it happens, but after two years your sense of feeling energetic and alive about things starts to go away. After 5-10 years you just shrug and assume this is the best you’ll ever get, no use complaining, it’s the same everywhere else (it ain’t), etc.
There are some great places, but they are isolated and expensive to live in. The rest of the state is a dead horse with flies all around and tongue sticking out, with people thinking they found a pulse. It’s dead.
So very true.. every single word… the heat, the people, the conversations, the housing/job market.. EVERYTHING .. its all true.
I was just warning someone about Phoenix/Arizona.. I was unlucky to live there for 10 months.. Ive lived in NY for most of my life and in Los Angeles for 4 years.. Arizona was the worst place ive ever been in..
There were times I was panicking.. as if I was in jail.. I felt like I would never get out. I did eventually get away and was lucky to move in with family back in NYC after getting layed off from the job I had for 10 months only. I looked for another job the whole time i was there (AZ) and couldnt find much if anything at all. The only job that paid well required a move to Dubai.. that was it.
In any case.. thank you for putting this blog out there.. People need to know what is going on there and what it is really like.
Phoenix and it surrounding metro area is finding its own level.
Basically, a repository of mediocre poorly educated bottom-feeders seeking cheap banal living and easy money.This soulless mix of carpet-bagging transients, budget seniors, tattooed misfits, real estate grifters, toothless (inappropriate term) tweakers, minimum wage job seekers and pseudo Scottsdale millionaires has created a big population center that masquerades as a major metropolis but is really one big cow town
A bleak barren landscape with terrible weather, traffic congestion, sub-standard education, bad government, bad air, stuffed with ugly stucco houses and big box retailers peddling Chinese junk and corporate food, to a dumbed down semi-literate citizenry, Phoenix metro epitomizes the lowest common denominator of American cities.
If somehow, by either plan or accident, you’re living in metro Phoenix, you have bad fate or made a terrible mistake; plan an exit strategy as soon as possible.
The ONLY reason to be there, (temporarily), is if you’re making a decent income
(120k per yr). Anything less is not worth it, as your health, mental well being, family and personal esteem will deeply suffer by living in the Mogadishu of America.
Metro Phoenix, AZ:
“There is no there, THERE”.
Not to mention, if you do manage to get a long weekend and go ‘up north’ for a break from the heat and traffic for some ‘camping’; expect to share the forest and trails with rude, loud, methed out, home tatooed, toothless trash. They will trash the trails with their loud quads, cigarette butts, beer cans, and garbage; and you may find yourself questioning your personal safety when you notice all the guns on the gun rack of their jacked up pick-ups covered in confederate flags and ‘I’ll kill for Jesus’ bumper stickers. I have lived all over the world and have never experienced anything quite like this state. The mountains of Arizona contain some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world; yet they are filled with some of the nastiest, most cruel people i have ever met. I moved to Pine, AZ from Chicago 2 years ago. Like most of you who relocated I realized my mistake almost instantly, and sadly too late. On postcards it looks like such a quant little mountain town, but it’s more like something out of ‘Deliverance’. I kept searching for more ’sane’ and less ‘cult-like’ communities while i lived there, and came to realize they don’t exist. It got to the point that I was scared to hike the trails alone with my 3 dogs for fear someone would put a bullet in my head because I wasn’t from there. Some of those isolated little mountain towns are just plain wicked.
I dont really think it is were you live. I think it is the live you live which determins happiness. People do say that if you have depression to live in Arizona because of how sunny and bright it is which idk if that is true or not. But i think it is kind of a stupid question. Every states have faults, every state has great things about it. If you dont like the heat dont live here. If you think people are rude dont live here. Looking at these comments is pretty shocking. Theres good parts of Arizona, and bad. Just like every other god damn place in the world. My grandparents lived here my parents lived here my siblings live here still i live here. Everyone I know who moved here stayed here. Ive lived here for 20 years. I guess if your a pussy and cant take it go back to where you came from lol. People need to stop being so negative, maybe thats all of your problems, not Arizona. If you were positive you probably wouldnt hate it so much, your negativity will follow you when you go back to wherever your from.
I can easily say omg New York is soooo horrible so many people get mugged everyone is stuck up. Do you have any idea how expensive it is?! Its sooo dirty there. Anless your not in the city youll have a chance at a good life. And the snow sucks all it does is get in the way and dont get me started on when it melts.
You live in Nevada?! there is absolutely nothing to do there. And have you seen Las vegas full of scumm bags and dirty sluts trying to make a living.
Michigan???? You live there and your still alive??? hopefully you dont live anywhere near detroit because detroit is developing a wolf probably. ARE YOU KIDDING ME ! its only a matter of time before those thugs take over the whole state anyway. good luck.
You can not live in california. everyone thinks there the shit. i mean los angelese is a joke. soon the whole state will be the ghetto. san fransisco is full of homless people addicts and gays.
omg you live in oregon? hope your mormon or youll never fit in. have fun having no fun.
hmm pretty easy to do that about any state really assholes.
Yeah, it’s the live we live.
They stayed here because they couldn’t go anywhere else if they wanted to due to lack of cash or imagination or skills.
There’s bad and there’s just WTF, is just about everyone a superficial bottom feeder piece of shit? It’s kind of funny how as long as your an asshole people listen to your every word. If you’ve been elsewhere, you realize just about the only constant culture here is one-upmanship with expensive new things. Whether you can afford them or if it’s smart to make a whole bunch of payments is not the issue. Just showing it is all that matters.
Who would want to move tomorrow to california, michigan, nevada or oregon right now? Most people here would think twice before going to these places. All are worse off than AZ. You have TX and possibly the midwest corn/farming belt.
You are right, there are some god awful dipshits everywhere you go, but this is the place where they are constant background noise to everything you do instead of what part of town you’re in. Doesn’t matter where you go, someone trying to pull one on you or make some quick cash.
Aside from the budget deficits and who knows what they’ll do to make up for lost tax revenues, AZ does have amazing outdoor places to go. It would be a good idea to get outdoors when you can as often as you can, because it’s all this place has to really offer.
“People need to stop being so negative, maybe thats all of your problems, not Arizona.”
God, are you stupid or what? Typical AZ cell-speak. It’s called a fucking apostrophe.
Ruh oh, looks like I’m stupid too. “as long as you’re an asshole…”
DX, making 120k sounds about right, much less and you’re just spinning wheels. Not there yet, but understand why a small percentage of wealthy people like it here. They have a huge pool of undereducated people to take advantage of.
Where I work masters degree is the starting level of being considered a human being. From there you are considered a loser if you don’t buy a house right after school- I wonder how it’s working out for them, still losing value, credit is supposed to expire (I bet they extend it again), and AZ shadow inventory is large. Gov’t gives you $8,000. Gee, over typical 30 year mortgage this comes to $20/month to entice you to get a house.
$20/month ain’t shit.
Allison is slightly right. We need to master AZ before going somewhere else, or the background noise there will annoy us. When thinking of places to go I am sort of at a loss besides TX and the midwest farming belt. In the meantime the only thing we can do is save as much cash as possible.
Oh, allison, you just proved the case that Arizona is a miserable place to live. It’s filled with folks just as bright and just as pleasant as you! And by the way (BTW in your version of English), Oregon I am QUITE sure has NOTHING on Arizona in terms of mormonism. One of the big problems with Arizona politics is the mormons in the legislature trying to use the law to turn Arizona into one big mormon territory.
DX above has stated it better than I EVER could! I will be printing out his take on this town and handing it to my therapist today saying “HELP! Get me out of here!”
That’s right. Six years in this place has sucked the life out of me and I live in a good part of town! I cannot imagine having to live in the hellhole that is Phoenix proper. Scottsdale sucks enough.
This place is boring and inhabited by a bunch of knuckle-dragging republicans hell bent on preserving the lowest common denominator that is this place. I used to be smart but know my IQ has dropped several points since living here. I’d cry but all the tears have dried up as well in this God-forsaken brown hole in the ground that people call Phoenix. Do yourself a favor and just FLY OVER! I wish I had.
Furthermore, all I really want to do is get out of here while I am still alive and know how to spell and punctuate correctly (ahem – directed to any multi-generational Phoenicians reading this).
The ONLY way I have managed to maintain any sanity to date is thanks to cheap wine at Safeway (yes, I’ve had the $9 an hour jobs here with my MBA and cheap wine somehow makes all of this more tolerable) and the fact I escape each night with vivid dreams of interesting places and people. Then I wake up and say, SHIT!, look where I am. How am I going to get out of here? Six years of living here has REALLY taken a toll on my mental health as the only people I’ve found for “friends” here are thiefs, criminals and losers in general. Needless to say, I spend most of my time with my two dogs and cat.
I hate this place and when someone asks why I moved here, I tell them mental illness. They think I am kidding. I am not. As DX said, I need an exit strategy!
Can someone please explain to me why the people here are so unfriendly?? I am accustomed to New Yorkers and the typical east coast attitude being that I am from there, but AZ attitude is ten times worse. NO ONE has any type of communicative skills, sense of humor or intelligence. At least when someone argues/screams at you from the east it is witty or justified. I like to play a game with myself when meeting/talking to people here…within a few minutes of talking to them I determine if they are natives or transplants…of course I can quickly figure it out when the person blankly stares at me when I use sarcasm or just try to make small talk. When I ask people where they are from, the natives proudly say “Arizona, born and raised!” Really? should you be admitting to that out loud? To each his own, I guess. I feel bad saying that everyone here is asinine but my experiences have made this opinion valid. Though I have met a handful of natives here that temporarily restore my faith in this state which is then quickly squashed the second I walk out my front door or get behind the wheel.
The common response I get from natives is that it is people like us that move here from wherever we came from and we have the bad attitudes. Well, no kidding!! If they knew any difference in the quality of life other than here they would be pissy too! So maybe a lot of the rudeness stems from all of us being so miserable and fed up with this state combined with the ignorance and hollow shells that are the natives…it’s just one big mess…
I so badly want to move back to the east but unfortunately the next plan for my boyfriend and I is to move to southern CA…I am absolutely terrified that CA is going to be the exact same way…My hope for the west has been destroyed and I can only think negative thoughts…does anyone have any input on CA/has lived there before or after this joke of a state? Any type of advice would be such a big help…I wish that I could’ve had someone do the same for when I moved to this endless abyss of no opportunity!!!