Photos: Top five happiness rankings of five major Colorado cities

Last week, we told you about the latest Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, popularly known as the happiest cities list, as well as the two Colorado places that finished in the top ten. But because Gallup-Healthways also produced a survey specifically about the State of Colorado, we're able to drill even deeper into facts and figures about five major cities here: Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins and Greeley. Count down our top five categories below, featuring photos, graphics and the state report. Number 5: The state you're in Before we get to the cities, let's take a look at how the State of Colorado stacks up against others in the U.S. of A. As you can see, Colorado slipped a bit from 2012 to 2013, going from the second happiest state to the seventh. But we're still top ten, baby! This graphic provides the order of finish for all fifty states: Continue to keep counting down the top five happiness rankings of the five biggest Colorado cities. Number 4: The big five Next up are the community rankings -- although not every Colorado town is included in the survey. As we mentioned, the five analyzed are Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins and Greeley. The highest rated is Boulder, but not by much; the community finishes in second place, just one slot ahead of Fort Collins. Denver-Aurora finishes a respectable eighteenth, with Greeley landing at 45th and Colorado Springs at 58th (out of 189). Continue to keep counting down the top five happiness rankings of the five biggest Colorado cities. Number 3: The happiness vote The survey also ranks the happiest Congressional districts. By this measure, Jared Polis is a lucky man, since the 2nd District, which he represents, is the third-happiest in the entire country, thanks to the presence of Boulder within it. The digits don't add up quite as well for Representative Doug Lamborn. His 5th Congressional District is the unhappiest in Colorado, finishing at 154th in the nation.

Here's a graphic spelling it out:

Continue to keep counting down the top five happiness rankings of the five biggest Colorado cities. Number 2: Getting healthy The Gallup-Healthways survey determines happiness by focusing on a number of specific areas, including, logically enough, health -- physical and emotional -- plus healthy behaviors. The results are all over the place. Boulder places better when it comes to physical health as opposed to the emotional kind (insert punchline here), while four of the five Colorado cities analyzed improved from 2012 to 2013 when it came to healthy behaviors. Try harder next year, Greeley.

Here are three graphics illustrating the data:

Physical health: Emotional health: Healthy behaviors: Continue to keep counting down the top five happiness rankings of the five biggest Colorado cities. Number 1: The best of the rest The other areas analyzed in the survey are work environment, life evaluation and basic access, whatever the hell that means. Here are the graphics showing how the five Colorado communities finished, followed by the complete report. Work environment: Life evaluation: Basic access:

Read the report here:

State of Colorado Well Being 2013

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More from our News archive circa February 2010: "Boulder's the happiest city in the USA: How much does weed help?"