MIAMI (CBS4) – Are you as tired as I am about all these national surveys that tell us how bad it is to live in Florida?

There’s no doubt we’ve had serious problems: unemployment has remained stubbornly higher than the national average, thousands of people have lost their homes, thousands others remain underwater on their mortgages.

Now, a new Gallup poll says Florida will be the sixth worst state to live in over the next five years.

In general, Southern states ranked terribly.

West Virginia was worst, followed by Mississippi and Kentucky.

The poll looked at a wide range of factors, including economic confidence, workplace environment, standard of living optimism, even obesity and smoking.

The survey found Utah, Minnesota and Colorado had the best future live-ability.

Eight of the top ten states were northern… the exceptions were Virginia and Hawaii.

All I can say is that a report out today shows our real estate market continues on the upswing and we are still one of the fastest-growing states in terms of population.  If things were so bad here compared to the rest of the country, why would people keep coming?