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.
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.
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.
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.
