Lincoln ranked happiest place in the U.S. - kotanow.com, KDUH, Scottsbluff, News, Weather and Sports

Lincoln may be the happiest place in the United States.

The capital city of Nebraska topped 188 other metropolitan areas in the 2012 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

The survey index is calculated from scores in six measures of well-being. Gallup surveyed nearly 354,000 respondents ages 18 and older.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Lincoln jumped from 118th in 2011 to first last year in the work environment category.

Nebraska came in at No. 7 among the states, one spot higher than in 2011. Omaha came in at 27th in the metropolitan category.