Oklahoma’s new state of misery: not OK?

Photo by: Abby Bellow

 

A recent article released by Gallup and Healthways ranked Oklahoma as the ninth-worst state to live in.

Since 2008, Gallup and Healthways have put together their Well-Being Index, ranking the states from best to worst. Hundreds of thousands of Americans were interviewed in order to ensure validity and accurately determine the rankings. This year Oklahoma fell a notch in the poll, coming in 42nd nationally.

“I wouldn’t say it’s ninth worst,” junior Caleb Eggleston said. “It’s probably not the greatest state to live in because it’s pretty flat [and] kind of boring, there’s not much landscape here. It’s not like the most beautiful state or anything, but I do think the people make up for it.”

Senior Lauren Bygland from Nebraska also agreed that the attitude of Oklahomans makes a difference.

“I have to say, there’s something to be said for the southern hospitality spirit down here,” Bygland said. “You can definitely tell people have southern hospitality. It’s not to say people aren’t nice at home, but here they’re just, I don’t know, raised definitely to be very mindful of their manners.”

CNBC listed Edmond as No. 1 on their list of perfect suburbs. A low unemployment rate, great public schools and a balanced house market helped land Edmond among the elite.

“Edmond is a great suburb,” junior Evan Loomis said. “It’s quiet and the people are friendly … I think just the people and the sunsets would have to be my two [favorite parts of living in Oklahoma].”

Students on the Oklahoma Christian campus seem to think that Oklahoma does have one major flaw: the weather.

“[My least favorite part of Oklahoma is] the weather, definitely the weather,” Loomis said. “It’s always windy, and it’s either too hot or too cold.”

Eggleston took it a step further, implying that the weather could account for Oklahoma’s low ranking in the poll.

“Weather-wise, it’s probably one of the worst states to live in just because it’s so bipolar,” Eggleston said. “As you can tell like now, it went from 70 degrees last week to freezing sleet this week. Then also with tornados, we get about the worst of everything. We get a little bit of earthquakes, lots of tornados, so weather-wise I would say we’re up there with one of the worst states to live in.”

Eggleston was quick to assert that he believes Oklahoma should have been ranked higher.

“Other than that, I really like Oklahoma,” Eggleston said. “The people overall are one of the nicest groups of people you’ll ever find, and then, Oklahoma City is one of the number one growing business cities to live in, so there’s a lot of companies coming to Oklahoma and doing more. So overall, Oklahoma City I would say is probably one of the better cities to live in because it’s not big … but you can have everything you want to do so you’re not super bored all the time.”

Professor of Psychology Ryan Newell shared some sentiments with these students, but he also provided some insight into the rankings.

“Those polls aren’t based on personal experiences of people,” Newell said. “I think they’re based more on economic conditions; maybe education level, literacy rates, pregnancy rates out of wedlock, all kinds of things like that. I think there’s some kind of matrix that they’ve used to pull that together, because I never quite understood how they come up with 10 best states to live in, 10 worst states to live in, and so on.”

Newell also gave an example of how economic issues would affect people in different states.

“Our son and daughter-in-law just moved here from Oregon,” Newell said. “You would think Oregon’s a great place to live, but the cost of living in Oregon is just unbelievable.”

Students gave many reasons as to why or why not Oklahoma should be considered the ninth-worst state. Some students also commented on the state that was ranked as the best to live in:  North Dakota.

Loomis questioned the validity of the poll itself.

“[North Dakota being first] kind of makes me question if the poll was biased,” Loomis said.

Newell explained the logic behind the ranking of North Dakota.

“Well, I’m sure it has to do with standard of living,”

Newell said. “I’m sure it’s got economic conditions. I would say probably very low crime rates, high employment, you know, low unemployment rates. That’s probably the reason, and if you’re OK with the weather and really short days sometimes during the year and that kind of thing, then North Dakota would be fine.”

Each student would place the states in a slightly different order; Bygland  put the mountains of Oklahoma’s northern neighbor at the top.

“I would probably have to [choose] Colorado, just because I love the mountains and there are so many outdoor activities that you can do out there,” Bygland said. “Oklahoma still has some, but you have to dig them out and travel a ways to get there, and in Colorado it’s just there.”