If you aren't better off, you must be worse off, right? Bloomberg Rankings collected 13 variables of misery for each state in the United States and created a "misery score" to identify the most miserable.

Air pollution, child poverty, infant mortality, poor health, premature death, violent crime, unemployment -- all conspire to send Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolina to the top of the list. Want to live in a low-misery state? Head toward Minnesota, New Hampshire or North Dakota.

For the full methodology, see the last page of this slide show.