Researchers at the University of Vermont say they have determined the happiest and saddest places in the United States by studying millions of messages posted on Twitter.

The tweet analysis experts reviewed more than 10 million tweets from 2011, focusing on the types of words people most often used, while also noting where the Twitter users resided. The context of the tweets was ignored, while the use frequency of 10,000 “happy” and “sad” words were tracked and rated on a scale from one to 10.

Their conclusions?

Hawaii was found to be the happiest state in the country. Next in line were Maine, Nevada, Utah and Vermont. At the other end, Louisiana was ranked at the bottom, just ahead of Mississippi, Maryland, Delaware and Georgia.

Among cities, Napa, California, came in first in terms of bliss, followed by Idaho Falls, Idaho; Longmont, Colorado; San Clemente, California; and Simi Valley, California. The most negative urban locale was Beaumont, Texas, followed by Albany, Georgia; Texas City, Texas; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Monroe, Louisiana.

The research also revealed that residents of Southern states tend to use gloomier words than those of Northern, New England and Western states.

The researchers admitted that their study has a couple of flaws: It didn’t differentiate between tweets sent by residents and tourists, nor did it account for the fact that profanity or negative-sounding words are sometimes used to portray a positive emotion.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, Danny Biederman

To Learn More:

Where is the Happiest City in the USA? (by Lewis Mitchell, Computational Story Lab)

New Study Uses Tweets to Rank America’s Happiest Cities, States (by Courtney Subramanian, Time)

Money Actually Does Buy Happiness, Says Study (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Danny Biederman, AllGov)

El Paso Earns Safest Large U.S. City Ranking Third Year in a Row (by Matt Bewig, AllGov)

Two Years of Tweets Now For Sale to Marketers (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)