These Are The Happiest Cities In America In 2019

Unsplash/Priscilla du Preez

Taking a step back to look at your life, do you feel genuinely happy about where you are, what you have going on and with whom you spend your time? When it comes to overall life satisfaction, there are so many components we have to consider, and we all value each of them a little differently. But there’s a pretty significant one that tends to fly under the radar: the place in which you live.

Your location can determine how many days you spend in beaming sunlight or beneath gloomy rainclouds, how many crowds and traffic jams you face on your way to and from work, and more. That’s why in its latest study, personal finance website WalletHub decided to explore why certain locales make more people content than others.

WalletHub analyzed various findings from positive-psychology research to determine which of the United States’ 182 largest cities is home to the happiest people in the country. After assessing 31 happiness indicators, from depression rates to income growth rates to average leisure time spent per day, here’s who came out on top.

Plano, Texas nabbed the top spot in the overall rankings and made it into the top 10 of each sub-category ranking — “emotional and physical well-being,” “income and employment” and “community and environment.” Then Irvine, California snagged second place and Madison, Wisconsin took third. On the other end of the rankings, Detroit, Michigan is considered the least happy city — and on all accounts. It scored 181 out of 182 in each sub-category. (Ouch.) Ranked just above Detroit were Toledo, Ohio and Charleston, West Virginia.

Digging a little deeper into the data, WalletHub identified additional interesting statistics. For instance, Miami, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines, Florida, all have the lowest depression rate (12.50 percent), which is 2.3 times lower than Charleston, West Virginia (28.90 percent). And Boston has the lowest number of suicides per 100,000 residents (4.48) which is 6.9 times lower than Juneau, Alaska, the city with the highest (30.83).

We’d also be willing to bet that a lot of Middle America’s happiness comes from the fact that they know how to prioritize a good night’s sleep. Overland Park, Kansas has the lowest number of adults sleeping less than seven hours per night (25.60 percent), which is two times lower than Detroit (50.10 percent). Oh, and if long commutes are the bane of your existence, it’s time to consider moving to Cheyenne, Wyoming, which has the lowest average commute time of 14 minutes.

Regardless of whether you’re the happiest you’ve ever been or think your general mood could use a boost, check out these rankings and see if your city stacks up in the way you’d expect. You might be surprised!

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