Does it just seem like some places make you feel better? Is there something in the air, some uplifting breeze that makes residents smile more or just saunter around in the most blissed-out relaxed state? Well, WalletHub is keying us into where these cities might be, so that we can get ourselves there and immediately cross into city limits with a surge of joy. No need to worry about parking your car while riding the waves of pure happiness.
Let’s look at the science first. WalletHub studied America’s 182 largest cities while looking at 29 comparison points related to happiness. These ranged from life expectancy and food security rates to job satisfaction, commute time, ideal weather, divorce rate and more. Sports participation indicates happiness, while the percentage of opioid prescriptions per 100 persons is not. It’s an interesting mix of various data that hopefully meld into an ultimate expression of a satisfied life.
It’s long been thought that a good night’s sleep is good for your skin and your mental health. And in South Burlington, VT, residents are doing a great job of hitting the pillow. Of all the cities, it has the lowest number of adults who sleep less than seven hours a night. These happy folks are not hitting snooze! (Sorry to Detroit, where most adults are not staying in bed long enough).
And if you loathe being in the car, your happy place will be Missoula, MT, or Bismarck, ND, because they have the lowest average commute time. Can you guess? New York City has the highest.
Time to post the top 20 happiest cities so you can buy a house/book a trip/longingly look at online photos of them. Grab a loved one’s hand and here we go:
1. Fremont, CA
2. Overland Park, KS
3. San Jose, CA
4. Madison, WI
5. Irvine, CA
6. Honolulu, HI
7. San Francisco, CA
8. Pearl City, HI
9. Columbia, MD
10. Scottsdale, AZ
11. Sioux Falls, SD
12. Huntington Beach, CA
13. Minneapolis, MN
14. Garden Grove, CA
15. San Diego, CA
16. Fargo, ND (didn’t they see the movie??)
17. Portland, ME
18. Seattle, WA
19. Lincoln, NE
20. Bismarck, ND
For the full report, which we hope will make you happy, click here.