If you live in Fremont, California, you evidently have nothing to complain about.
According to a new study by WalletHub in conjunction with the International Day of Happiness – celebrated on March 20 – Fremont is the Happiest City in the U.S. The study compared 180 of the largest U.S. cities across 28 “key indicators of happiness,” including depression rate, income-growth rate and average leisure time spent per day.
Fremont placed first overall, topping all U.S. cities, with a grade of 79 percent. It was ranked first in the community and environment category, third in the employment category, and sixth in the income category.
Other factors included adequate sleep rate, sports participation rate, suicide rate, work hours, divorce rate and commute time. For example, Cheyenne, Wyoming, has the lowest average commute time, 14.6 minutes, which is 2.8 times lower than in New York, the city with the highest, at 40.3 minutes.
Coming in at #2 is Bismarck, North Dakota, followed by San Jose, CA, Pearl City, Hawaii, and Plano, TX.
San Francisco appears in 13th place on the overall list. Boston ranked 63rd, Los Angeles 75th and New York City 80th.
The three lowest-rated places are Huntington, W.Va., Birmingham, Ala., and Detroit.
WalletHub is a personal finance website based in Washington, D.C. and owned by Evolution Finance, Inc. – parent company of the credit card website CardHub.com. They’ve surveyed more than 180 of America’s largest cities to find out which was the happiest.
The local happiness indicator didn’t stop at Fremont’s city limits. Two down at Number 3 was San Jose, with San Francisco coming in at 11 Oakland (18) and Santa Rosa (22) also made the top 25.
All of their gorgeous weather helped, says the survey.
“Location plays a hand in how bright or gloomy our days are,” says WalletHub. “For years, researchers have studied the science of happiness and found that its key ingredients include a positive mental state, healthy body, strong social connections, job satisfaction and financial well-being,” the company wrote. “However, money can only make you so happy – people who make $75,000 a year won’t get any higher satisfaction from more money.”
Researchers added that “moving to a certain city may help you be more content.”
San Jose, despite being the third-happiest large city in the country, also came in a high 7th for “Depression Rate” and 10th for ”Suicide Rate.” But then again, on Lowest Separation and Divorce Rate, Fremont also came out on top.
Here’s the full list:
Top 20 Happiest Cities in America
1. Fremont, CA
2. Bismarck, ND
3. San Jose, CA
4. Pearl City, HI
5. Plano, TX
6. Fargo, ND
7. Sioux Falls, SD
8. Irvine, CA
9. Huntington Beach, CA
10. Grand Prairie, TX
11. Madison, WI
12. Columbia, MD
13. San Francisco, CA
14. Scottsdale, AZ
15. Overland Park, KS
16. Santa Clarita, CA
17. Glendale, CA
18. Oakland, CA
19. St. Paul, MN
20. Gilbert, AZ
-AP & agencies
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