Happiest states: Hawaii tops list, but who's on bottom? (pictures)

(CBS) Blue may describe the water that surrounds Hawaii but apparently not the people who live there.

The Aloha State comes out on top of a new national survey of Americans' well-being, scoring a 71.0 out of a possible 100. Rounding out the top five are Wyoming, with a score of 69.2, North Dakota (68.4), Alaska (68.3), and Colorado (60.0).

Pictures: Saddest states in America

Southern states fared poorly in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, with 10 posting scores that put them toward the bottom of the list. Western states fared well, taking five out of the top 10 positions.

Just what is well-being anyway? The index was calculated from telephone interviews in which people were asked about emotional and physical health, job satisfaction, access to health care, healthy behavior, and what they thought of their overall life situation and how they anticipated things would be in five years.

More than 352,000 adults were interviewed between January and December, 2010.