Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

You may have heard in the news last week that Portland was voted the unhappiest city in the U.S. by Business Week. Which surprised me, actually, because since we moved here I am happier than I have been in years. So, naturally I was interested to learn why the bozos at Business Week came to this conclusion, and which other cities were moping alongside Portland in their unhappiness. Here's the scoop:

Portland, Oregon
Overall Rank: 1
Depression Rank: 1
Suicide Rank: 12
Crime (property and violent): 24
Divorce Rank: 4
Cloudy Days: 222
Unemployment Rate (Dec. 2008): 7.8%

If you ask me, Business Week's methods are less than scientific, and needless to say, this "award" isn't sitting too well with the locals. In order to get the depression ranking, they polled pharmaceutical companies to see where sales of antidepressants are highest. Apparently it's Portland. But, as Oregon journalist Kari Chisholm argues, doesn't that mean that Portland is less unhappy? I mean, at least there aren't a bunch of depressed people walking around without medication, right? Chisholm makes quite a few good arguments, actually, namely by listing all the other awards that Portland, as a city, has won. Here's a sample of what Chisholm has to say:

Portland is the #1 greenest and the #2 most enlightened city in the nation. It was also rated by Travel & Leisure as one of their readers' favorite places to visit (including a #4 rating for an active/adventure vacation and #5 for relaxing/retreat vacation.) T&L also ranked Portland #1 for pedestrian friendliness, #4 for public safety, #5 for the underground arts scene, #6 for "friendly", #8 for "fun", #9 for dining, #10 for theatre, #12 for live music, the list goes on...

Portland has been called one of the "new American dream towns" by Outside magazine, citing impressive statistics on Portlanders' preference for reading, indie films, gardening, and superior beer selection. (Portland has more breweries than any other metropolis in the world in case you didn't know.) It's also been called "America's indie rock mecca,"which is actually a nice change from the "country music capital of the world." Not included in Chisholm's list (why, I don't know) is that Portland was recently ranked the #1 best city to have a baby by Fit Pregnancy magazine.

It seems to me, based on the above, that Portland has a lot going for it. But, since I am still new to Portland, I tend to take these things pretty seriously. I don't want to live in a place that has a reputation for being depressed, you know? That sucks. So, of course I wanted to see what other cities were on the list. And, guess what? Yep, Nashville is on it, too, at #8, and with a much higher crime rate than Portland. So, that makes me feel better in some ways. Like, if Nashville had been listed as one of the happiest cities, then I would be bummed.

Oh, and by the way, I mentioned a couple of months ago that it hasn't rained much here this winter. In case you're wondering, the sun is still shining its little heart out. I heard on the news that we're about 8 inches below normal rainfall for the winter. (Yeah, right. They're just saying that, like I said they would.)

But really, all these statistics don't matter. I mean, I'm a numbers person, so I find it interesting. But, what really matters is how you feel. And I feel awesomely happy.