Massachusetts, home to one of the nation’s “wealthiest and most highly educated populations,” leads the nation in life satisfaction, says a new survey.

“While a connection to a place can often be based on intangibles, a good quality of life in a given state is largely predicated upon a few key factors,” say the authors of the 24/7 Wall St. survey, published in The Huffington Post. “The levels of poverty, education, and health can largely capture living conditions in a state, which tend to vary considerably across the country.”

Hawaii did pretty well in the survey, coming in at No. 9  — ahead of Virginia but behind Vermont. But some of the metrics seems a bit suspect to me. For example:

“Based on the relative value of the dollar, no state is more expensive than Hawaii. Still, as in many of the other best states to live in, Hawaii residents are quite wealthy. A typical household earns $69,592 each year, the fifth highest annual median household income in the nation. The state also has one of the lowest poverty rates in the country, with just 11.4 percent of the population living below the poverty line, compared to a national rate of 15.5 percent.”

What’s missing in this analysis is the cost of living here, from gas to food to electricity to rent. On the plus side, however, we get credit for a great climate and longevity.

Mississippi, the poorest state in the country, placed last in life satisfaction.