You may have noticed a slightly different question on the Survey Draw over the weekend. We asked “How happy would you say you are in general?” Why? Because we were curious. We wanted to know whether some areas are “happier” than others.
I put “Happier” in quotes because, you’re right, it’s a subjective question. Happiness is a complicated mix of pleasure, contentment, fulfilment, and so on. You might feel terrible having climbed to the top of Everest, yet be overcome by a sense of fulfilment. Whatever you think happiness is, it may come and go at different times. Ask me at 7.30 on Monday morning and I’ll give you a wildly different answer than at 10.30 on Friday night. Finally, in theory, two of us might be equally happy but may disagree on how happy we are. Happiness is relative, as recent studies have shown.
Saying that, I bet you can’t wait to see how “happy” your postcode area is, and to compare it to next door’s, or your least favourite football team’s. A bit of friendly area-rivalry never hurt anyone (apart from when it did).
85,906 of you selected one of the following answers: Very happy, happy, slightly happy, neutral, slightly unhappy, unhappy, very unhappy, and “I’m not sure right now”. We’ve ranked these answers numerically from 3 (very happy) to -3 (very unhappy), neutral and “I’m not sure right now” being 0. Whilst we are very sorry for those of you who reported any level on unhappiness, we’re pleased to find that the overall average was “happy” (1.05).
We’ve found the average for each postcode area. Here’s the top 10:
| Rank | Area | Postcode area | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Central London | EC | 1.50 |
| 2 | Jersey | JE | 1.48 |
| 3 | Llandrindod Wells | LD | 1.46 |
| 4 | Outer Hebrides | HS | 1.45 |
| 5 | Hereford | HR | 1.35 |
| 6 | Slough | SL | 1.26 |
| 7 | Isle of Man | IM | 1.23 |
| 8 | Halifax | HX | 1.22 |
| 9 | Shrewsbury | SY | 1.20 |
| 10 | Llandudno | LL | 1.20 |
Despite all our expectations, the City of London (EC) dwellers are at the top. Equally surprising was that their more bohemian (we assume) neighbours in the West-End came bottom. Looking at the numbers might explain why. Only 12 people from WC, and 18 people from EC answered, compared to, say, 2379 from Birmingham. Fewer answers make them more prone to being swayed by outliers. More generally though, it seems that those of you in more rural areas report more happiness than urbanites. We really should ask though, does escaping to the country make us happy, or does the countryside attract happier people? We don’t know the answer.
Here’s the rest:
12 Aberdeen (AB): 1.19
13 Watford (WD): 1.18
14 Bournemouth (BH): 1.18
15 Truro (TR): 1.18
16 Croydon (CR): 1.17
17 Chelmsford (CM): 1.17
18 Harrogate (HG): 1.17
19 Kirkwall (KW): 1.16
20 Gloucester (GL): 1.16
21 Colchester (CO): 1.16
22 Bromley (BR): 1.15
23 Cambridge (CB): 1.15
24 Exeter (EX): 1.15
25 Worcester (WR): 1.15
26 Norwich (NR): 1.14
27 Milton Keynes (MK): 1.14
28 Guildford (GU): 1.13
29 Salisbury (SP): 1.13
30 Crewe (CW): 1.13
31 Swindon (SN): 1.13
32 Sutton (SM): 1.12
33 York (YO): 1.12
34 Portsmouth (PO): 1.12
35 Doncaster (DN): 1.12
36 Oxford (OX): 1.11
37 Stockport (SK): 1.11
38 Canterbury (CT): 1.10
39 Redhill (RH): 1.10
40 Tunbridge Wells (TN): 1.10
41 Torquay (TQ): 1.09
42 Kirkcaldy (KY): 1.09
43 Belfast (BT): 1.09
44 Stevenage (SG): 1.09
45 Dorchester (DT): 1.09
46 Preston (PR): 1.09
47 Lincoln (LN): 1.08
48 Coventry (CV): 1.08
50 Derby (DE): 1.08
51 Walsall (WS): 1.08
52 Motherwell (ML): 1.07
53 Luton (LU): 1.07
54 Southend-on-Sea (SS): 1.07
55 Huddersfield (HD): 1.07
56 Reading (RG): 1.07
57 Paisley (PA): 1.06
58 Northampton (NN): 1.06
59 North London (N): 1.06
60 Plymouth (PL): 1.06
61 Kingston upon Thames (KT): 1.06
62 Edinburgh (EH): 1.06
63 Darlington (DL): 1.06
64 Blackburn (BB): 1.05
65 Galashiels (TD): 1.05
66 Hemel Hempstead (HP): 1.05
67 Glasgow (G): 1.05
68 Twickenham (TW): 1.05
69 Ipswich (IP): 1.05
70 Bath (BA): 1.04
71 Romford (RM): 1.04
72 Peterborough (PE): 1.04
73 Stoke-on-Trent (ST): 1.04
74 Falkirk (FK): 1.04
75 Bolton (BL): 1.03
76 Blackpool (FY): 1.03
77 Bristol (BS): 1.03
78 Hull (HU): 1.03
79 Cardiff (CF): 1.03
80 Manchester (M): 1.03
81 Dartford (DA): 1.03
82 Guernsey (GY): 1.03
83 Warrington (WA): 1.03
84 Harrow (HA): 1.03
85 South West London (SW): 1.03
86 Swansea (SA): 1.02
88 Taunton (TA): 1.02
89 Nottingham (NG): 1.02
90 Leeds (LS): 1.01
91 Telford (TF): 1.01
92 Newcastle upon Tyne[6][7] (NE): 1.01
93 Brighton (BN): 1.01
94 Lancaster (LA): 1.01
95 Southall (UB): 1.00
96 Rochester[1] (ME): 1.00
97 Perth (PH): 1.00
98 Dudley (DY): 0.99
99 Bradford (BD): 0.99
10 0Chester (CH): 0.99
101 South East London (SE): 0.99
102 Leicester (LE): 0.99
103 Carlisle (CA): 0.99
104 St Albans (AL): 0.98
105 Enfield (EN): 0.98
106 Durham (DH): 0.98
107 Newport (NP): 0.96
108 Oldham (OL): 0.95
109 East London (E): 0.95
110 Kilmarnock (KA): 0.95
111 Birmingham (B): 0.93
112 Sheffield (S): 0.93
113 Wigan (WN): 0.92
114 Wakefield (WF): 0.92
115 North West London (NW): 0.92
116 Cleveland (TS): 0.90
117 Dundee (DD): 0.89
118 Liverpool (L): 0.87
119 Sunderland (SR): 0.87
120 Wolverhampton (WV): 0.87
121 West London (W): 0.81
122 Ilford[1] (IG): 0.74
123 Lerwick (ZE): 0.64
124 Western Central London (WC): -0.08
Hope that wasn’t a total waste of time. Stay happy!
Chris & Team 🙂