Comments on: Happy (and not so happy) Places

By: Who’s hiring in the best cities for college grads? « careerblog by kris hintz

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:31:11 +0000

[...] and (2) ten “happiest Congressional districts” listed by Richard Florida in his post, “Happy (and not so happy) places” based on the Gallup-Healthways’ Happiness-Stress Index . No surprise, lots of job openings in [...]

By: Best cities for college grads and young single professionals « careerblog by kris hintz

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:20:43 +0000

[...] scores for the USA’s Congressional districts, which Florida presents on his blog post “Happy (and not so happy places)”. The five happiest districts include the Silicon Valley, Atlanta’s Northern Suburbs, Orange [...]

By: Dan Cory

Dan Cory — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:22:20 +0000

Viewing big maps is easier with Seadragon.com: http://seadragon.com/view/fqi

It would be even better if we can find a higher resolution version.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:43:27 +0000

P.S.
Here’s a map of PA-1

Hardly a demographically homogeneous district:
http://www.brady.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=59§iontree=6,59

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:51:01 +0000

Answered my own question – here’s an explanation of the methodology:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/106756/galluphealthways-wellbeing-index.aspx

From the article:
The research and methodology underlying the Well-Being Index is based on the World Health Organization definition of health as “not only the absence of infirmity and disease, but also a state of physical, mental, and social well-being.”

* Also note: this doesn’t have anything to do with happiness. You can all go back to assuming that Williamsburg and South Philly are just fat, uninsured, and care free; and that the rich kids in silicone valley eat only superfood omega-3 wheatgrass smoothies and are completely miserable while doing it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:46:33 +0000

Numbers alone mean nothing, and this post conflates some of the terminology. The link you reference doesn’t mention the word “happy” or “happiness” at all, only “well-being”. Presumably the biggest component of “well-being” is healthiness, and of course well-off districts are *healthier* – they can afford the best health insurance, and their higher taxes provide them better access to better medical services.

Can you provide any resources explaining how the “well-being number” is calculated?

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:13:41 +0000

Yup – Pennsylvania-01 as just being South Philadelphia is completely incorrect – it includes Center City Philadelphia east of Broad Street; Old City; Northern Liberties; parts of Northeast Philadelphia; parts of Southwest Philadelphia; Chester, PA; Yeadon, PA; and Darby, PA.

By: BarryG

BarryG — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:27:28 +0000

Gotta defend South Philly. It’s not the happiest place on earth but that congressional district covers much more than South Philadelphia–it also contains Chester and Darby which are… well, a lot less happy than South Philly.

By: Michael Wells

Michael Wells — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:04:31 +0000

It looks like the creative class cities are mostly top 20%, if I’m looking at my geography right. Portland, Seattle/Bellevue, Silicon Valley, Boulder, Austin, Boston, Santa Fe, etc. Of course, these are mostly higher income too — Portland’s high tech/richer Westside First District is top 20% while its Eastside 3rd District is middle — and the 3rd is where the hipsters live, but also has most of the lower income suburbs.

The lowest 20% line that runs along the Appalachians is striking. Is it more than income? Dispirited at the rate of change, left out of the creative class economy, something in the water?