# Hawaii is the Happiest State in America for the Second Year in a Row
For the second consecutive year, Hawaii landed the top spot on WalletHub’s annual ranking of the happiest states in America.
WalletHub’s 2025 report found that even tho people across the country are facing challenging times and dealing with issues like the cost of living and economic uncertainty, the state in which you live can significantly impact your overall happiness.
to determine the ranking,WalletHub examined the 50 states across 30 metrics within three key dimensions: emotional and physical well-being,work surroundings and community and environment.
Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing maximum happiness.
Last year, California and Florida, two states known for generally good whether year-round and as go-to locales for retirement, didn’t rank in the top 10. But this year the Golden State did climb back up on the list to no. 7. Florida, on the other hand, remains at No. 14.
Across the three key dimensions,California came in fourth place for emotional and physical well-being,45th in work environment and 11th in community and environment ranking.
“There’s a lot to do in California and there seems to be a lot of community pride. The economy does well,but there are large pockets of California outside of the urban areas where the economy isn’t very good,so maybe their annual incomes aren’t as much as those in the urban areas,but they’re stuck with the high cost of living,” Chip Lupo,writer and analyst at WalletHub,tells CNBC Make It.
“There just seems to be general unhappiness and apprehension with the overall work environment in the state. A strong work environment score may have put California easily in the top five.”
Hawaii landed the top spot on WalletHub’s list with an overall score of 65.50.
It ranked third for emotional and physical well-being, 16th for work environment and 13th for community and environment.
The report found that Hawaii residents have the highest levels of life satisfaction in the country and the second-lowest rate of depression. 85% of adults report they are in good or better health, the tenth-best percentage in the U.S.
“That’s an obvious number one. It has grate weather year-round. People are happy with life and they’re not depressed. It has a year-round tourism economy, so the unemployment is pretty low, and people there have a reasonably high income, so there’s little financial anxiety,” Lupo says.