Gallup, Healthways Release Landmark Rankings of U.S. Cities and States Drawn from the Largest Survey of Physical, Emotional, Social, Professional and Community Well-Being Ever Undertaken

Individuals wanting to increase their personal well-being and enjoy the highest quality of life in America might want to consider relocating to Boulder, Colo. or the state of Hawaii.

That’s the conclusion of two groundbreaking reports published today by Gallup, the world’s best known and most respected behavioral science authority, and Healthways (NASDAQ: HWAY), the largest well-being management company in the nation.

The residents of Boulder and Hawaii had the highest well-being of any city or state in the U.S in 2009, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index^TM (WBI), which has been randomly polling 1,000 Americans per day, 350 days per year for the past 25 months.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index City and State Reports released today are based on more than 350,000 surveys completed in 2009. More than 725,000 surveys have been collected since polling began in January 2008, making the WBI the largest database of behavioral economics and information concerning holistic well-being in existence.

The 42 core questions that make up the WBI survey were scientifically designed by some of the world’s leading experts in economics, psychology and health to thoroughly measure how respondents are faring in all aspects of their lives; physically, emotionally, socially and professionally, as well as to take a daily pulse of how Americans rate the overall quality of their current life and outlook for the future.

While these rankings are not intended to be a competition – they are not about winners and losers – they do provide government policy-makers, community leaders, media agencies, employers, health plans and healthcare providers with an unprecedented level of detailed information about where communities are doing well, where they are struggling and where to best target policies and investments to assist residents to maximize their well-being.

Gallup and Healthways published state and congressional district rankings based on WBI data for the 2008 measurement year. This is the first time city rankings have been announced.

Among the best and worst performers:

Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index City Rankings

Top 10 Cities Overall, Well-Being¹

Top 10 Large Cities, Well-Being¹

Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index State Rankings

Top 10 States, Well-Being²

Bottom 12 States, Well-Being²

¹ The "cities” referenced in this release are based on the "Metropolitan Statistical Areas” (MSAs) that have been defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In many cases, more than one city can be included in the same MSA. The San Jose metropolitan statistical area, for example, also includes the much smaller nearby cities of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara in addition to San Jose itself. Maximum expected error ranges for the metropolitan statistical areas vary according to size, ranging from less than one percentage point for the largest cities represented to +/-2.4% for the smallest.

² Results are based on telephone interviews with more than 353,849 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2009, as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±0.2 percentage points. The margin of sampling error for most states is ±1 to ±2 percentage points, but is as high as ±4 points for smaller states such as Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, and Hawaii. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index categorizes the District of Columbia as a congressional district. Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones (for respondents with a landline telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell phone only). In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index score for each city and state is an average of six Sub-Indices: Life Evaluation - based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale - Emotional Health, Physical Health, Healthy Behavior, Work Environment and Basic Access to necessities. The overall composite score and each of the six Sub-Indices are calculated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 represents fully realized well-being. The 2009 Well-Being Index score for the country is 65.9, unchanged from 2008.

From a state perspective, well-being has been fairly stable over time; most states exhibited little change from 2008 to 2009. Only four states - South Dakota, Mississippi, Hawaii, and Iowa - saw an increase of two or more points in their Well-Being Index score from 2008 to 2009. Wyoming saw the largest decrease at 1.3 points. Overall, 18 states moved in a negative direction, 27 in a positive direction, and five remained unchanged. Gallup and Healthways did not report city rankings in 2008.

"The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is the most powerful tool yet devised for truly understanding how individuals and communities across this nation are faring – and in real time,” said Ben R. Leedle, Jr., Healthways chief executive officer. "The Index differs from every other measure out there in both scale and scope. It looks beyond mere physical health, the presence or absence of disease or injury, to encompass total well-being - all of the various facets of our lives that interweave to make us who we are; healthy or sick, happy or sad, productive or non-productive.

"If we truly want to make progress with healthcare in this nation – to promote a healthier and longer-lived citizenry, bring down costs and make our businesses more competitive – it’s imperative that we broaden the scope of the discussion beyond the quality of medical outcomes and the number of uninsured,” Leedle continued. "Specifically, we need policies, programs and solutions, implemented at a total population scale, that work to keep healthy people healthy, reduce or eliminate lifestyle risk and optimize care for people with existing disease or conditions.”

The WBI is the product of a 25-year partnership between Gallup and Healthways to create the definitive measure of the state of well-being and quality of life in America, to quantify and establish a correlation between the places where people work and the communities in which they live and their well-being. Over the next quarter century, the Index will generate more than nine million individual responses.

"For leaders, the well-being of the residents in their respective cities, states and communities matters on many levels, with potential impact for economic development, law and order, and community pride and purpose,” said Katie Bell, partner, Global Well-Being for Gallup. "It’s important to remember that the high-level results revealed in these rankings represent the very beginning of what can be learned through Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index metrics. Even the communities with the highest levels of well-being have specific areas to improve. Those with the lowest levels have strengths that should be celebrated or leveraged. With highly projectable data from the WBI in hand, leaders have the ability to more effectively make both strategic and tactical decisions that affect positive change.”

For further details about the rankings or to download complete reports for individual states, please visit: www.well-beingindex.com/

For more in-depth analysis into the data contained in the rankings and implications for U.S. cities and states, please visit: www.gallup.com/poll/wellbeing.aspx

About the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index™

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is the first and largest survey of its kind, with 1,000 calls a day, seven days a week. It is the official statistic for Well-Being in America, giving a daily measure of people's well-being at the close of every day based on the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health as not only the absence of infirmity and disease but also a state of physical, mental and social well-being. The Well-Being Index describes the correlation between the places where people work and the communities in which they live, and how that and other factors impact their well-being. Additionally, the enterprise version of the Well-Being Index may be administered in workplaces throughout the U.S. to determine the Well-Being score of a specific employer population and how it compares to the employer’s state and nation. With such data, employers can uncover and address key factors that impact the productivity and financial health of the organization. For additional information, go to www.well-beingindex.com.

About Gallup

Gallup has studied human nature and behavior for more than 70 years. Gallup’s reputation for delivering relevant, timely, and visionary research on what people around the world think and feel is the cornerstone of the organization. Gallup employs many of the world's leading scientists in management, economics, psychology, and sociology, and our consultants assist leaders in identifying and monitoring behavioral economic indicators worldwide. Gallup consultants also help organizations boost organic growth by increasing customer engagement and maximizing employee productivity through measurement tools, coursework, and strategic advisory services. Gallup's 2,000 professionals deliver services at client organizations, through the Web, at Gallup University's campuses, and in 40 offices around the world. For more information go to www.gallup.com.

About Healthways

Healthways is the leading provider of specialized, comprehensive solutions to help millions of people maintain or improve their health and well-being and, as a result, reduce overall costs. Healthways’ solutions are designed to help healthy individuals stay healthy, mitigate and slow the progression to disease associated with family or lifestyle risk factors and promote the best possible health for those already affected by disease. Our proven, evidence-based programs provide highly specific and personalized interventions for each individual in a population, irrespective of age or health status, and are delivered to consumers by phone, mail, internet and face-to-face interactions, both domestically and internationally. Healthways also provides a national complementary and alternative Health Provider Network and a national Fitness Center Network, offering convenient access to individuals who seek health services outside of, and in conjunction with, the traditional healthcare system. For more information, please visit www.healthways.com.