Longview Is America’s Angriest City, Shreveport Isn’t Very ‘Well’

The East Texas city of Longview is pretty angry according to a Gallup/Healthways study.  And Shreveport-Bossier, as well as most of Louisiana, aren't very 'well' compared to other parts of the country.

In its Well-Being Index, Gallup surveyed 1 million people since 2008 on a wide range of issues to gauge the well-being of residents across the country.  They looked health issues like obesity, diabetes and blood pressure.  Looked at economics and habits like smoking and being insured.  They even asked about emotions like happiness and anger.

Longview happened to be the angriest city in the nation.

But it's not just lists of happiest and saddest cities, fattest and thinnest.  The organization also publishes an annual Well-Being Index ranking for communities all across the country.

Compared to other states, we aren't doing too 'well.'  In 2012, Louisiana ranked 43rd out of the 50 states.  We were 36th the previous year.  Louisiana ranks poorly for risky behavior and low basic access to health care, according to Gallup.

What wasn't seemingly considered was the levels of stress, which the Pelican State ranked as second-best.

Here in the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes Caddo, Bossier, and DeSoto Parishes, we aren't very well.  Actually, out of the 189 MSAs across the country, Shreveport-Bossier City is 169th.  But the year prior, our MSA was 40th.

The big swings that changed the rank between the years was in three areas: Life Evaluation (from 12th to 91st), Emotional Health (from 2nd to 158th), and Physical Health (from 11th to 167th).

Some head-to-head numbers from across the Ark-La-Tex:

By State (out of 50):

• Arkansas: 46th (44th, 2011)
• Louisiana: 43rd (36th, 2011)
• Texas: 27th (27th, 2011)

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