Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Culture

These are the happiest cities in America

Looking for a change? The list of the happiest places to live in the U.S. is a good place to start

By
People crossing the street in the city, walking their bikes
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What makes you the happiest about where you live? Do you think you’d be better off living somewhere else? Well, they did a little study on the 200 biggest cities in the U.S. to see where we would be the best to put down roots. If you think you might be better off in another city, check out the list of the happiest cities in America before you make your next move.

How the city makes the cut

We should say a lot of this is financially motivated, because, well, isn’t that how it is? The happiest places to live in the U.S. require a few provisions to make it on the list.

Recommended Videos

The factors

  • Well-being
  • Quality of life
  • Finances

Things like the work commute, poverty level, health insurance, cost of living, and a salary over $100,000 played a part in the rankings. There were 13 specific categories under the three main factors that they scored, and the places with the highest overall numbers ranked supreme.

Related

The top 3 cities

Third place – Bellevue, Washington

  • Overall score 92.37

If you care about having the highest possible quality of life, Bellevue, Washington, is where to go. Bellevue boasts over 60% of residents banking $100,000 a year while having only 8% of residents living under the poverty line.

Second place – Arlington, Virginia

  • Overall score 93.59

With 48% of people making over $100,000 a year and only needing 35% of that money to live, Arlington, Virginia, doesn’t seem like a bad spot to land. If your overall well-being is important to you, Arlington scores almost 100% in that category.

First place – Sunnyvale, California

  • Overall score 94.74

With the top score of 100% for quality of life and a close 97.72% well-being score, Sunnyvale, California is the top spot to live to have a cozy life. Well, in the U.S. In addition to having financial security, residents in Sunnyvale don’t have to worry that much about crime, as the rate is 149 crimes per 100,000 people.

A busy street with a trolly going down it
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The top cities as a whole

California knows something we don’t

If you look at the Top 10 as a group, you’ll find a pattern that leads to California. The state claims 60% of the Top 10 happiest cities in America, with Fremont, Roseville, San Jose, Santa Clarita, and Irvine rounding things out. Taking it to the Top 50, California holds down 34% of the spots on the happiest list.

Texas had a good run

Texas had two cities in the Top 10, with Frisco and Plano taking the number five and six spots. They have different reasons and metrics that got them into the top, but their overall scores of 85.72 for Frisco and 84.59 for Plano are still impressive.

The least happy spots

If you want to keep your positive vibes where they are, there are cities to avoid.

  • Birmingham, Alabama
  • Newark, New Jersey
  • Memphis, Tennessee

While the West Coast dominates the happiest places in the U.S., look at the whole list to see if there’s anywhere you might have your eye on. If you aren’t feeling where you live right now, there are 50 options for big city life where there’s no shortage of hood living.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Dannielle Beardsley
Dannielle Beardsley
Contributor
Dannielle has written for various websites, online magazines, and blogs. She loves everything celebrity and her favorite…
These are the best movies to watch on Peacock in May
Peacock is a TV service, but it also has a great catalog of movies to stream, too
Jack Black in Bernie.

A fun bit of historic TV trivia is that the original NBC peacock logo was first implemented in 1956 to highlight the network's new color programming. Even though the logo has gone through numerous iterations since then, the network has stuck with the colorful bird, in one form or another, for going on six decades now. It’s fitting, then, that Peacock is known most for its TV programming, highlighted by shows like The Office, Parks and Rec, and the self-mocking (and hilarious) 30 Rock. If you are on Peacock for the shows, however, don't overlook that the platform is also home to a number of great movies spanning cinema history, including everything from great comedy to excellent sports movies.

Peacock streaming offers both free (registered) and paid accounts. As a result, some Peacock movies are available without a paid subscription, and others only for subscribers. This roundup culls titles from both groups. To be sure you can access all of these classics, you'll have to fork over a subscription fee. Happy streaming and keep reading to find the best movies on Peacock right now.

Read more
The best shows on Paramount Plus to binge in May
Stream these incredible shows on Paramount Plus
Penny Dreadful scene

Having a vast library of good television shows and films is the most important factor in the success of a streaming service. That's part of what transformed Netflix into a global phenomenon, and it's why services like Paramount Plus have worked hard to build a healthy library of series that subscribers can browse through. As is the case with all streaming services, Paramount Plus has a mix of original series that live only on the platform and older shows that were originally on broadcast and have now found a home on streaming.
Although these shows have varied histories, each one of them is a great staple in Paramount Plus's overall streaming library. Paramount Plus will likely continue to develop original content, but these Paramount Plus shows will stand the test of time, whether they're ongoing or have been over for a decade or longer.

Penny Dreadful (2014)

Read more
The 8 best golf documentaries to watch this year
Here's a glimpse into the amazing history of golf, including how the sport has evolved
Tiger (HBO)

Depending on how you look at it, golf is either one of the simplest sports or one of the most complex. The objective is very easy to wrap your head around: This ball has got to wind up in a hole that's maybe a quarter mile away. Everything that happens after that, though, is where things get interesting. Of course, people who love golf love it for a wide array of reasons. Some people love the beautiful courses, while others love the stories behind their favorite players.
There are plenty of people who love golf but don't play it much themselves, and those are the people whom this list is really for. Golf's full of amazing stories, and we've even gotten our fair share of great golf movies as a result. Sometimes, though, a documentary is an even better fit for a particular story set in the world of golf. That's why, after careful consideration, we've brought you this list of the best golf documentaries you can stream now.

Full Swing (2023)

Read more