Anyone from Wyoming can tell you how awesome it is to live here – most of the time, you don’t even have to ask. We may have to deal with deep snow, short summers, and long drives to get anywhere, but the stunning landscape, friendly neighbors, and plentiful wide open spaces more than balance it out. We wouldn’t stay if we didn’t love it.
You don’t have to take our word for it, though. After analyzing the statistics, Wyoming was named one of the happiest states in the country. Read on to see a few reasons why…
One thing that contributes to happiness is enjoying what you do every day. As an agricultural state, ranches account for a large portion of the income in Wyoming, and ranchers and cowboys love what they do.
U.S. Department of Agriculture/Flickr 76 percent of Wyomingites of all vocations say they like what they do for a living.
Contrary to popular belief, however, not everyone in Wyoming is a rancher or a cowboy. Yet, there’s still a lot of happiness and satisfaction being produced on the job.
Christy B/TripAdvisor Tourism is huge in the Cowboy State. Therefore, many of the jobs are linked to retail and the hospitality and food industries. That has paved the way for a lot of locally-owned hometown businesses, and you gotta know that making a success out of what you love to do creates a whole lot of happy.
People are friendly in Wyoming, and social relationships are strong. Just under 80 percent of the residents here say they have friends and family they are close to and can count on.
Marion Patterson/Flickr Our strong social relationships score is the second highest in the nation.
The crime rate is fairly low in the Cowboy State. It’s the 11th lowest in the nation, and nearly 85 percent of Wyomingites say they consistently feel safe and secure.
Håkan Dahlström/Flickr Wyoming’s score representing how safe residents feel is the third highest in the country.
The poverty rate is low in Wyoming, too. At just 11.3 percent, we’re the 14th lowest in America.
Nick Amoscoto/Flickr Plus, Wyoming is home to the richest county in the entire country.
There’s a lot of community pride here, as well. In fact, with 70.9 percent saying that they’re proud of where they live, that puts Wyoming in the top five states with the most pride in their communities.
Erin Kinney/Flickr
At the bottom of it all, when you look around and see breathtaking scenery like this, how can you not be happy?
Robert/Flickr
What part of living in Wyoming do you love?
U.S. Department of Agriculture/Flickr
76 percent of Wyomingites of all vocations say they like what they do for a living.
Christy B/TripAdvisor
Tourism is huge in the Cowboy State. Therefore, many of the jobs are linked to retail and the hospitality and food industries. That has paved the way for a lot of locally-owned hometown businesses, and you gotta know that making a success out of what you love to do creates a whole lot of happy.
Marion Patterson/Flickr
Our strong social relationships score is the second highest in the nation.
Håkan Dahlström/Flickr
Wyoming’s score representing how safe residents feel is the third highest in the country.
Nick Amoscoto/Flickr
Plus, Wyoming is home to the richest county in the entire country.
Erin Kinney/Flickr
Robert/Flickr
Of course, living happily ever after in the Cowboy State is easier if you follow the Unwritten Rules Every Wyomingite Lives By ‘Til Death.
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