With March 20 being International Day of Happiness and the average American’s stress level rising significantly for the first time since 2007 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021’s Happiest Cities in America, as well as accompanying videos.
In order to determine where people in America are most content with their lives, WalletHub compared more than 180 of the largest U.S. cities across 31 key indicators of happiness. The data set ranges from depression rate to income-growth rate to average leisure time spent per day.
| Top 20 Happiest Cities in America | |
| 1. Fremont, CA | 11. Sioux Falls, SD |
| 2. Bismarck, ND | 12. Irvine, CA |
| 3. Fargo, ND | 13. San Francisco, CA |
| 4. Madison, WI | 14. Pearl City, HI |
| 5. San Jose, CA | 15. Burlington, VT |
| 6. South Burlington, VT | 16. Minneapolis, MN |
| 7. Lincoln, NE | 17. Plano, TX |
| 8. Columbia, MD | 18. Charleston, SC |
| 9. Cedar Rapids, IA | 19. Rapid City, SD |
| 10. Santa Rosa, CA | 20. Seattle, WA |
Key Stats
- San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont, California, all have the lowest depression rate, 11.30 percent, which is 2.9 times lower than in Billings, Montana, the city with the highest at 32.30 percent.
- Jersey City, New Jersey, has the lowest number of suicides per 100,000 residents, 5.97, which is six times lower than in Casper, Wyoming, the city with the highest at 36.10.
- Fremont, California, has the lowest separation & divorce rate, 9.21 percent, which is 4.4 times lower than in Cleveland, the city with the highest at 40.77 percent.
- South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest share of adults sleeping less than 7 hours per night, 28.50 percent, which is 1.8 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 51.40 percent.
- Cheyenne, Wyoming, has the lowest average commute time, 14.30 minutes, which is 2.9 times lower than in New York, the city with the highest at 41.50 minutes.
