The Ten Happiest Cities in the United States 2025

WalletHub, a personal finance company, has unveiled its latest rankings of the happiest cities in the United States. These rankings were derived from an analysis of 29 distinct happiness metrics, ranging from depression rates to income growth and the average amount of leisure time enjoyed daily. Each of these metrics was evaluated on a scale of 100 points, with a perfect score of 100 indicating the highest level of happiness. I find it fascinating that a full FIVE cities on this list are in California, three of them specifically in Northern California!

10 HAPPIEST CITIES

1. Fremont, Calif.
2. San Jose, Calif.
3. Irvine, Calif.
4. Sioux Falls, S.D.
5. Overland Park, Kans.
6. Lincoln, Neb.
7. Madison, Wis.
8. Scottsdale, Ariz.
9. San Francisco, Calif.
10. Huntington Beach, Calif.

To figure out how each city compared, WalletHub drew upon their own research and data from the U.S. government, as well as several studies on happiness. They then used the following metrics to score the cities:

Emotional and physical well-being

• Life-satisfaction index
• Depression rate
• Suicide rate
• Adequate sleep rate
• Physical health index, which measures the percentage of adults reporting good or better health.
• Sports participation rate
• Share of people aged 12 or older who used marijuana in the past month
• Retail opioid prescriptions dispensed per 100 persons
• Share of adults with mental health not good, which measures the percentage of adults with 14 or more mentally unhealthy days reported in the past month.
• Life expectancy
• Food insecurity rate

Income and employment

• Income-growth rate
• Share of households with annual incomes above $75,000
• Poverty rate
• Job satisfaction
• 4+ star job opportunities per total people in the labor force, which measures the number of job opportunities at 4+ star rated companies on Glasssdoor.com per the total people in the labor force
• Job security, measuring the probability of unemployment
• Unemployment rate
• Underemployment rate
• Bankruptcy rate
• Weekly work hours
• Commute time

Community and environment

• WalletHub’s “Most Caring Cities” Ranking
• Separation and divorce rate
• Hate-crime incidents per capita
• Ideal weather, using data from WalletHub’s “Cities with the Best & Worst Weather” ranking.
• Acres of parkland per 1,000 residents
• Average leisure time spent per day
• Well-being “community” index score (Note: This metric refers to the “Community” section of the Sharecare Well-Being Index, which refers to “liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community.”)

Link to original article in Fortune magazine:
https://fortune.com/well/article/happiest-cities-in-america-2025/