The Most Popular New Year's Resolutions By State

What are your resolutions for 2016 — get fit, save money, enjoy life? You're likely not alone, and this recent study determining the most popular New Year's resolution in each state proves it. Financial services website GoBankingRates polled 5,000 Americans asking what their biggest goal for 2016 is, even breaking the resolutions down by popularity and age group. Some of the results are pretty interesting, like the fact that seniors (ages 65+) want more than anything simply to enjoy life to the fullest. Perhaps unsurprisingly, young Millennials (ages 18-24) care about paying down debt less than anything. Given that the class of 2015 has the most student loan debt of any other generation, and that the title seems to be getting passed down each year... well, you do the math. Literally.

Unless people are totally full of it, it seems that fitness-related goals are taking a backseat this year in favor of wanting to enjoy everything life has to offer. Although I personally hate the idea of waiting for a new year to reach for your goals (start now, silly!), I'm big into setting goals in general. In fact, I had my own lengthy list of goals for this past year. I adopted a dog and started a business (hooray), but sadly did not pay off $45k in student loan debt. Womp womp.

So, where does your state fall in? Let's take a closer look at each of the six most popular resolutions according to GoBankingRates.

1. Enjoy Life To The Fullest

This one really warms the cockles of my heart. In our culture, life is all about getting ahead. Better job. More money. Nicer car. Bigger house. We so infrequently pay attention to our own true happiness. Well this year, states like California, Nevada, Texas, New York, and Florida were all, "Uh, no thank you!" and have decided that in 2016, they want to enjoy life to the fullest. Kudos.

2. Live A Healthier Lifestyle

No more pizza for breakfast. No more binge drinking on the weekends. No more excuses for skipping the gym. Utah, Ohio, Oregon, and South Dakota (among others) have vowed to live a healthier lifestyle in 2016. SD makes sense in particular: They're in fourth place on the list of states that drink the most beer, coming in at a 38.2-gallon per capita consumption annually.

3. Lose Weight

This is reportedly one of the most common New Year's resolutions, this one actually came in third place in terms of overall state popularity, with 12 states making this their top priority. Michigan, New Hampshire, and Arizona must have gone overboard with the eggnog and dark chocolate peppermint bark this holiday season, because they're all saying that 2016 is the year to lose weight. But hey, let's all just take a moment to remember that being healthy isn't necessarily tied to a number on a scale.

4. Save More, Spend Less

It looks like Wyoming, Arkansas, and Alabama are looking to save more money next year, including the $1,700 the average American family spends on clothing each year.

5. Spend More Time With Family And Friends

The results here are even slimmer. Only Wyoming and Arkansas are aiming to spend more time with their loved ones in 2016. Either everyone else is already doing this, or they hate their families.

6. Pay Down Debt

This year, the average American household had $15,355 in credit card debt alone, so I can't make sense of this. There is just one state — one! — that wants to pay off debt: Hawaii. If no one else has any major debt, would they like to offer to pay off mine?

Head on over to GoBankingRates to see more results, as well as some nifty graphs and maps analyzing the data. Happy New Year, everyone! Have a great night, and don't drink and drive.

Images: MENI from ASO! & Soothe./Flickr; Giphy (6)