Cornhusker Happiness

Cornhuskers are the happiest people in the nation, according to MainStreet.com’s new Happiness Index.

Nebraska came out on top in the Happiness Index, which used unemployment figures, foreclosures and non-mortgage debt to determine a state’s overall financial well being.

Ethanol production got some of the credit for Nebraska’s happiness in a Good Morning America story aired on Monday morning, which noted that Nebraska’s “ethanol plants, in particular, have flourished and the ongoing effort to grow industry has enabled people who lose jobs to find new ones relatively easily.”

Two other Corn Belt states ranked second and third according to the index – Iowa and Kansas – and MainStreet.com explains that people in the Midwest tend to live more within their means, unlike people on the coasts. The unhappiest states are mainly on the east or west coast – Rhode Island, Nevada, California, Florida, and Oregon.