By Sharon Hanks
Put on a happy face! Forget about the state's crabby naysayers.
Residents living in the Lake Michigan communities of Holland and Grand Haven are the second happiest and healthiest people in the nation. At least, that's what the results indicate from a massive new study of Americans' attitudes.
In interviews with more than 350,000 Americans during 2009, the
Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index asked individuals to assess their emotional and physical health, work environment, health behavior and access to basic needs, such as food, medicine and safe living places.
The mayors of Holland and Grand Haven weren't surprised that the assessment of people living in their communities about their own level of happiness was the second highest in America, just behind residents living in the number one city: Boulder, Colo.
"Without saying 'I knew it all along,' this speaks highly of certainly the West Michigan area because it has to do with the quality of life we enjoy along the lake shore," says Grand Haven Mayor Roger Bergman.
"Because we are near the lake, we have the quality of four seasons but they are moderated to an extent by the lake," he says. Summers are cooler and winters are warmer than weather conditions inland.
In addition to this, the communities, which have a combined area population of 260,360, have beautiful downtowns where there is a sense of community and where people want to be to relax. The Grand Haven mayor is a Holland native who owns a retail shoe store in each of the downtowns.
Equally pleased with the survey results, Holland Mayor Kurt Dykstra says "this really confirmed internally that those of us who live in Holland know -- this is a special place. It's nice to be on the medal stands," he added in reference to the Olympics where second place earns a silver medal.
"It's especially gratifying to be ranked higher than Honolulu!" he says, laughing about that Hawaiian city's number three status in the rankings.
Attitudes among people living in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming area with a combined population of 776,833 ranked 63 in the well-being index. At the bottom of the list of 161 large and medium-sized metro areas was Huntington, W. Va.
The metro area of Washington, D.C. was the only other community ranked in the top 10 east of the Mississippi River. Rounding off the Top 10 list were four communities in California and two in Utah.
In its report of the survey, USA Today says nine of the 10 cities that fared best on "life evaluation", an assessment of life now and expectations in five years, were home to major institutions that traditionally offers some economic insulation during a recession, such as a major university, state Capitol or large military installation.
Sources: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index; USA Today; Roger Bergman, mayor Grand Haven; and Kurt Dykstra, mayor of Holland.
Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at [email protected]. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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