The website WalletHub ranks 182 of the largest cities in America from the happiest to least happy. Half of the ten happiest cities this year are in California.
The rankings are based on 31 factors, including life satisfaction, rates of depression, participation in sports, life expectancy, job security, the weather as well as the number of parks nearby.
Some of the results are honestly surprising. Especially, considering the weather. How in the wide world of sports did Fargo end up in the top 10? No disrespect to Fargo… It is a fine place to…. Drink. You can watch your empties roll away in the wind for days.
Based on the criteria that they used I’m suspect of the following lists, but here are the top 10’s top and bottom.
The ten happiest cities are:
- Plano, Texas
- Irvine, California
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Fremont, California
- Huntington Beach, California
- Fargo, North Dakota
- Grand Prairie, Texas
- San Jose, California
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- San Francisco, California
And the ten least happy are:
- Detroit, Michigan
- Toledo, Ohio
- Charleston, West Virginia
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Gulfport, Mississippi
- Little Rock, Arkansas
- Huntington, West Virginia
- Newark, New Jersey
- Mobile, Alabama