To mark the recent United Nations International Day of Happiness plus news that the typical stress level of U.S. citizens is rising significantly for the first time since 2007, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal-finance website WalletHub today has compiled data to assess 2021’s Happiest Cities in America.
To compile the necessary data, WalletHub examined the 180 of the largest U.S. cities using over thirty indicators commonly used to assess happiness. The data set ranged from levels of mental health issues (like depression rate) to the average income-growth rate and other factors like the proportion of leisure time in a typical day.
The following video explains more about the research process:
The outcome of the analysis showed the top ten happiest cities in the U.S. to be:
1. Fremont, CA
2. Bismarck, ND
3. Fargo, ND
4. Madison, WI
5. San Jose, CA
6. South Burlington, VT
7. Lincoln, NE
8. Columbia, MD
9. Cedar Rapids, IA
10. Santa Rosa, CA
With the 180 city strong list there are some interesting variations across the key indicators. For example, San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont, California, each recorded the lowest depression rates, some three times lower than Billings, Montana, the city with the highest level of mental health issues, a 32 percent of the population. Jersey City, New Jersey, records the lowest level of suicides per 100,000 residents, at around six. This is six times lower than in Casper, Wyoming, where there are a problematic 36 per 100,000 residents.
Acorss the measure of domestic bliss, Fremont, California, has the lowest separation and divorce rate, at 9 percent. This is some four times lower than in Cleveland, which stands at the very high level of 40 percent.
With quality of life, South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest proportion of adults sleeping less than 7 hours per night, at just under 29 percent, which is twice as low tas Detroit, which stands at a little over 51 percent. Cheyenne, Wyoming, has the lowest average commute time, 14.30 minutes, which is 2.9 times lower than in New York, the city with the highest at 41.50 minutes.
