Utica-Rome One of The Top 10 Saddest Cities in America

As the LOLCats would say, "I haz a sad". In a survey done by Gallup, the Utica-Rome area was 179 on a list of 188 on a  list of the happiest places in America. Being 10th from the bottom of the list kind of makes me feel sad.

The survey was done in 2010 with daily interviews of over 350,000 Americans asking a series of questions about 6 broad categories.  Life Evaluation based on a scale of 1-10,  with 10 being the best, physical health, healthy behavior, Emotional, with questions like "Were you treated with respect yesterday" and "Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday". Also some questions about the interviewee's work and a kind of hash of non related areas they called Basic Access, about general satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the city/region, the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, and how safe it feels to walk alone at night.

The data from these interviews were then distilled down to a score of 0-100 for each category. Then those 6 scored were in turn mashed into the final score based on the same 0-100 scale. From the article at Money Watch, Boulder, Co. was the #1 happiest place with a score of 73.3. And the saddest was the Huntington W.Va.-Ashland, KY metro area, with a score of 58.1

The Utica-Rome area clocks in at a score of 62.6 being beat out by Shreveport-Bossier City, LA with a score of 62.9. The Capital District  scored a 66.4 and Syracuse got a 65.2.