While it may seem unsurprising that the nation’s happiest worker’s live in Hawaii, it may not be the nice weather that puts them in a good mood.

Sokanu, a career discovery platform designed to help people find their ideal career based on their personality traits, interests and abilities, released new data last week, revealing that the happiest workers live in Hawaii. Using data collected from Sokanu’s online career test to identify America’s happiest hot-spots and not-spots, the top-ranked states are:

1. Hawaii
2. West Virginia
3. Maine
4. Nevada
5. Kansas

Coming up short are these states, ranked on the bottom of the worker happiness scale:

50. Vermont
51. Rhode Island
52. Washington
53. Pennsylvania
54. New Mexico

Using data collected from more than 250,000 workers across more than 250

career paths, Sokanu created an infographic to summarize the results of the best and worst state rankings on its blog.

“What’s most interesting about this infographic is that it asks more questions than it answers,” says Jørgen Hookham, UX designer, front-end engineer and project manager at Sokanu. Why are people in Hawaii, West Virginia and Maine more satisfied with their careers? Is it better employers? Nicer weather? Why are unhappiness levels in Vermont and Rhode Island so high?”

Hookham said the question of whether geography is a factor in career satisfaction sparks a number of related ones. For example, “Are there places in the world that simply have better philosophies or approaches that make our working lives better and more fulfilled?”

Presenting some additional data about job satisfaction, the analysis seems to suggest that some states may simply be centers for careers that spark more creativity—a common thread for the most satisfying ones:

• Film director
• Athlete
• DJ
• Choreographer
• Video game designer

The least satisfying careers are:

• Debt collector
• Postal clerk
• Janitor
• Lab technician
• Telemarketer

“It’s clear that creative roles or ones that fulfill dreams—such as competing in the Olympics or making feature-length movies—are linked to much higher levels of satisfaction than other jobs,” Hookham said.

About Sokanu

Launched in 2013, Sokanu offers a career discovery platform to help people find their ideal career. The company’s mission is to fundamentally change the way people prepare for the workforce by helping them to find the career that is right for them and the unique path to getting there. Sokanu is being used in more than one hundred schools and universities, including NYU, University of Nevada, University of Texas, University of Miami, and many others. Sokanu is based in Vancouver, BC and funded by top Silicon Valley, NYC and Vancouver-based angel investors in education technology, social networking and career psychology.

Source: Sokanu