Methodology

For the list, WalletHub compared 182 of the largest cities in the United States across three dimensions and evaluated each of the categories with 29 relevant metrics, all graded on a 100-point scale with a score of 100 representing maximum happiness.

The three dimensions were:

• Emotional and physical well-being, including rates of depression, suicide, adequate sleep, and physical health (50 points).
• Income and employment, including income-growth rates, share of households earning an annual income above $75,000, poverty rates, and job satisfaction (25 points).
• Community and environment, including being listed on WalletHub's "Most Caring Cities" list, separation and divorce rates, hate crime incidents per capita, and acres of parkland per 1,000 residents (25 points).

WalletHub then determined each city's weighted average across all metrics to calculate an overall score.

The happiest (and unhappiest) cities in America

According to WalletHub, the 10 happiest cities in America were:

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

Meanwhile, the 10 unhappiest cities in America were:

182. Detroit, MI

181. Cleveland, OH

180. Montgomery, AL

179. Birmingham, AL

178. Shreveport, LA

177. Huntington, WV

176. Toledo, OH

175. Jackson, MS

174. Mobile, AL

173. Akron, OH

WalletHub also ranked cities by their score in each of the three main categories, including:

• Emotional and physical well-being, with Fremont, CA, ranking the highest and Huntington, WV, ranking the lowest.
• Income and employment, with Lewiston, ME, ranking the highest and Detroit, MI, ranking the lowest.
• Community and environment, with Honolulu, HI, ranking the highest and Cleveland, OH, ranking the lowest.

In addition, WalletHub ranked cities by their scores in various other metrics, including:

• Depression rate, with Pearl City, HI, having the lowest rates of depression and Lewiston, ME, having the highest.
• Adequate-sleep rate, with South Burlington, VT, having the highest and Detroit, MI, having the lowest.
• Work hours, with Burlington, VT, having the fewest and Scottsdale, AZ, having the most.
• Income growth, with Miami, FL, having the highest and Juneau, AK, having the lowest.
• Separation and divorce rate, with Fremont, CA, having the lowest and Detroit, MI, having the highest.

(McCann, WalletHub, 2/27)

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