Oh, joy. Another “study” has come out to tell us what we already feel every time we look at a horizon that hasn’t changed since the Mesozoic era. WalletHub just dropped its happiness rankings, and our beloved Hub City managed to snag a glorious #135 out of 182. That’s right—we are officially in the bottom third of American cities, sitting a mere 52 spots above rock bottom. But hey, at least we aren’t Detroit! That’s basically the city’s unofficial motto at this point, isn’t it?
The real kicker here is the “why.” Apparently, we are absolute champions at the office. Lubbock actually ranked #31 in Income and Employment. We’re out here grinding, finding jobs, and bringing home the bacon. We’ve got the “work” part of “work-life balance” down to a science. It’s just the “life” part—the Emotional and Physical Well-Being and Community and Environment—where we’re absolutely tanking.
So, the data confirms the Lubbock Dream: You can find a job and earn a decent paycheck, you’ll just be too depressed and physically drained to enjoy it. We’ve built a city that is essentially one giant, dusty breakroom. We’ve got high depression rates and physical health indicators that suggest our primary form of “sports participation” is probably competitive patio-sitting.
The study suggests that if we want to stop being the “Sad Trombone” of Texas, we might need to focus on things like parks, health, and entertainment. You know, things that don’t involve a spreadsheet or a commute. But why bother with a park when you can just stare at a sunset from above and pretend the dust is “ambiance”?
Who needs “emotional well-being” when you have a steady direct deposit and enough wind to power a small country?
