# No Wonder I'm Unhappy - I live in Gloom Town **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484 "2011-11-29T19:46:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/1 "2011-11-29T19:46:39Z")
> **[Frown Towns](https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a19540514/frown-towns/)** > > Find the cities where Americans are the saddest and where they are living with big smiles on their faces And the neighboring city, Tampa, is #97. What are we so unhappy about? The weather is a lot nicer than Detroit and we’re not Detroit so that should be something, right? And how the hell can Fargo, ND be so happy that they are #3 least sad? It’s frickin’ cold there! Honolulu I can understand, I’d rather be in Honolulu. So where does your city fall? Or discuss the list or whatever you want to do … I don’t care. I think I’ll just curl up in a ball in the corner. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/2 "2011-11-29T20:16:47Z")
I’m in the 5th happiest, and my family lives in one of the saddest. Weird. Makes me wonder if it’s a Democrat/Republican thing. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/3 "2011-11-29T20:32:22Z")
There’s a lot to say for snow! If I am guessing right I would say 9 of the top 10 least-sad cities have a snowy winter. I think only 1-4 of the gloomiest places have a snowy winter. At least, the 3 Florida and 2 Nevada places are blindingly sunny! ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/4 "2011-11-29T20:49:51Z")
9th happiest, baby! Woo! Must be all those hippies and their weed…or the fact that we have an ass-load of breweries and brewpubs around. 😃 Suck it everyone who isn’t St. Paul, Sioux Falls, Madison, Boston, Omaha, Fargo, Manchester, or Honolulu! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/5 "2011-11-29T20:54:19Z")
At first glance I kinda got this impression. The saddest cities were what I would suspect are big cities that do NOT have a country/rural feel to them. The happiest were ones that I’d guess do have a country/rural influence (Boston being the big exception). Anybody else get that sorta vibe? ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/6 "2011-11-29T20:59:14Z")
I wonder how much of this has to do with average age of the population (ex. all the Florida cities with failing grades). Getting old sucks I guess! ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/7 "2011-11-29T21:04:51Z")
I just moved from 8 to 14 (St Paul to Minneapolis). There really isn’t\* that \*much difference between the two cities. It’s a bit silly. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/8 "2011-11-29T21:10:57Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > I wonder how much of this has to do with average age of the population (ex. all the Florida cities with failing grades). Getting old sucks I guess! They factor in suicides, which are heavily scewed towards the elderly. They also include unemployment, and two of the states hit worst by the housing boom (NV and FL) account for five of the top ten cities. So I suspect its basically high unemployment from the housing bust and having a bunch of old people who are prone to suicide and depression. That and having Voldemort for Governor. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/9 "2011-11-29T21:15:46Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > I just moved from 8 to 14 (St Paul to Minneapolis). There really isn’t\* that \*much difference between the two cities. It’s a bit silly. Tampa and St. Pete are kind of considered twin cities but we’re only separated by 3 points. I think St. Petersburgers are sadder because we lose our identity to Tampa, because the area is called the Tampa Bay area so everyone just thinks we’re all in Tampa. They even named OUR baseball team the Tampa Bay Rays (it was St. Pete’s team!), Everyone thinks they’re Tampa’s team anyway so why should we care if they leave? Let Tampa have them! I don’t care. Bunch of losers anyway. Oh, and are long running newspaper, The St. Petersburg Times is now changing their name to The Tampa Bay Times! Sheesh! No wonder we’re so depressed, no one cares about us. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/10 "2011-11-29T21:28:18Z")
My county has one of the highest anti-depressant usage levels in the state (we are near Sacramento). I suspect that the very high unemployment and poverty levels are the reason–this is a great place to live, if you can scratch out a living, but good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/11 "2011-11-30T00:02:38Z")
#94 baby! Our state motto is “Not Dead Last, Bitches!” and by god this city takes that to heart. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/12 "2011-11-30T00:32:32Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Tampa and St. Pete are kind of considered twin cities but we’re only separated by 3 points. I think St. Petersburgers are sadder because we lose our identity to Tampa, because the area is called the Tampa Bay area so everyone just thinks we’re all in Tampa. They even named OUR baseball team the Tampa Bay Rays (it was St. Pete’s team!), Everyone thinks they’re Tampa’s team anyway so why should we care if they leave? Let Tampa have them! I don’t care. Bunch of losers anyway. Oh, and are long running newspaper, The St. Petersburg Times is now changing their name to The Tampa Bay Times! Sheesh! No wonder we’re so depressed, no one cares about us. All of this. I live in downtown St. Pete, I didn’t think I was unhappy, but now that you mention all that stuff… ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wonder-im-unhappy-i-live-in-gloom-town/604484/13 "2011-11-30T18:54:42Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > At first glance I kinda got this impression. The saddest cities were what I would suspect are big cities that do NOT have a country/rural feel to them. The happiest were ones that I’d guess do have a country/rural influence (Boston being the big exception). Anybody else get that sorta vibe? Country/rural people are nicer, IMHO. New York is famous for having assholes, and big cities are full of people bitching about the rat race. Also, a lot of the cities in the top 10 are Midwest cities not going through such a bad time with unemployment and housing prices.