10 happiest cities
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Fremont, Calif.
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San Jose, Calif.
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Irvine, Calif.
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Sioux Falls, S.D.
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Overland Park, Kans.
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Lincoln, Neb.
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Madison, Wis.
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Scottsdale, Ariz.
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San Francisco, Calif.
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Huntington Beach, Calif.
10 unhappiest cities
173. Mobile, Ala.
174. Montgomery, Ala.
176. Birmingham, Ala.
177. Toledo, Ohio
178. Gulfport, Miss.
179. Fort Smith, Ark.
180. Memphis, Tenn.
181. Detroit, Mich.
182. Cleveland, Ohio
How the cities were determined
To figure out how each city compared, WalletHub drew upon their own research and data from the U.S. government, as well as several studies on happiness. They then used the following metrics to score the cities:
Emotional and physical well-being
Life-satisfaction index
Depression rate
Suicide rate
Adequate sleep rate
Community and environment
WalletHub’s “Most Caring Cities” Ranking
Separation and divorce rate
Hate-crime incidents per capita
Ideal weather, using data from WalletHub’s “Cities with the Best & Worst Weather” ranking.
Acres of parkland per 1,000 residents
Average leisure time spent per day
Well-being “community” index score Note: This metric refers to the “Community” section of the Sharecare Well-Being Index, which refers to “liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community.”
Income and employment
Income-growth rate
Share of households with annual incomes above $75,000
Poverty rate
Job satisfaction
4+ star job opportunities per total people in the labor force, which measures the number of job opportunities at 4+ star rated companies on Glasssdoor.com per the total people in the labor force
Job security, measuring the probability of unemployment
Unemployment rate
Underemployment rate
Bankruptcy rate
Weekly work hours
Commute time
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Physical health index, which measures the percentage of adults reporting good or better health.
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Sports participation rate
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Share of people aged 12 or older who used marijuana in the past month
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Retail opioid prescriptions dispensed per 100 persons
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Share of adults with mental health not good, which measures the percentage of adults with 14 or more mentally unhealthy days reported in the past month.
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Life expectancy
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Food insecurity rate
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