What does it take to be an overall happy city? According to a new report by WalletHub, a number of factors are to be considered: From the residents' levels of emotional and physical wellbeing to income/employment data to community and environment characteristics (think divorce rates, average weather conditions, strength of social ties and amount of green space).
Taking into account 28 "key indicators" of happiness across 182 of the largest cities in the country, the website recently released a ranking of the happiest cities in the U.S. We reproduce the top 20 below (find the entire list right here):
1. Fremont, California
2. Bismarck, North Dakota
3. San Jose, California
4. Pearl City, Hawaii
5. Plano, Texas
6. Fargo, North Dakota
7. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
8. Irvine, California
9. Huntington Beach, California
10. Grand Prairie, Texas
11. Madison, Wisconsin
12. Columbia, Maryland
13. San Francisco, California
14. Scottsdale, Arizona
15. Overland Park, Kansas
16. Santa Clarita, California
17. Glendale, California
18. Oakland, California
19. St. Paul, Minnesota
20. Gilbert, Arizona
Clearly, with eight cities making the top 20 list, California is officially the happiest state in the United States. With two appearances each in the ranking, North Dakota, Arizona and Texas are the second most cited states—rather surprising.
The study also shed light on a few other interesting facts. Here are some highlights:
- Folks in El Paso (Texas) and Port St. Lucie (Florida) boast the lowest depression rate. People living in Salem (Oregon) are on the opposite side of the spectrum, reporting the highest depression rate in the country.
- The highest sports participation rate was found in Seattle (Washington).
- Laredo (Texas) came in last on the sports participation index but first in lowest suicide rates.
- The highester suicide rate in the country was found in Missoula (Montana).
- People living in Burlington (Vermont) work the fewest hours while those living in Anchorage (Arkansas) work the most hours.
- The lowest separation and divorce rate was found in Fremont (California). The highest? Detroit (Michigan).