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By Amanda Greenwood
Associate News Editor
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WalletHub has analyzed some of the largest cities in the U.S. using happiness indicators—such as physical well‑being and income, as well as community and environmental factors—to establish which cities are the happiest.
How Did WalletHub Determine Which Cities Are The Happiest?
WalletHub analyzed 182 of the largest U.S. cities using 29 indicators of happiness, grouped into three weighted categories:
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- Emotional and physical well‑being
- Income and employment
- Community and environment
The metrics they used included rates of depression, life satisfaction, income growth, poverty, work hours, commute times, sleep quality, physical health, social connectedness, divorce rates, and leisure time.
Each city received a total score out of 100, with higher scores reflecting greater overall happiness.
Which US Cities Are The Happiest?
WalletHub’s analysis shows that the happiest cities tend to combine good health, strong social ties, manageable work hours, and “good‑enough” incomes, while the unhappiest cities are marked by poor health outcomes, economic stress, and weak community conditions.
According to the study, Fremont, California, is the happiest city in America.
WalletHub reported that, out of all the cities analyzed, Fremont has the highest share of households earning a high amount —over $75,000—has the lowest divorce rate in the U.S., has very low depression levels, and has good, strong community engagement.
Next was Bismarck, in North Dakota. WalletHub said the city has good physical health and sleep, and has the longest amount of leisure time per day (on average), which is likely to reduce stress levels.
Third was Scottsdale, in Arizona. This city has extremely high levels of physical activity, very low rates of poor mental health days, and generally high incomes.
Other happy cities included South Burlington, in Vermont—which had the best sleep in the nation—and Fargo, in North Dakota, which had low unemployment and solid income growth.
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Which US Cities Are The Unhappiest?
The cities with the lowest “happiness score” included Huntington, in West Virginia, which was ranked the unhappiest city by WalletHub. The report suggested that this is because it has the highest depression rates nationally. Overall health and well‑being scores were also low, despite working shorter hours.
Next was Detroit in Michigan. This city got the worst income and employment score in the study, and suffers from high poverty and economic stress. Third was Memphis, in Tennessee, which has high depression rates and low economic stability.
The Indicators Behind “Happiest” and “Most Depressed” Cities
WalletHub’s depression‑rate indicator showed the lowest prevalence of depression was in Jersey City, and the highest was in Huntington.
Adequate sleep rates diverged sharply, with South Burlington ranking highest and Detroit ranking lowest for sleep. This aligns with research linking sufficient sleep to improved mental and physical health.
Cities with the highest sports‑participation rates were led by South Burlington, Seattle, and Scottsdale. This also echoes research that connects regular physical activity with happiness and better mental health. Cities with the lowest participation included Laredo in Texas, Gulfport in Mississippi, and Detroit in Michigan.
Economic indicators were mixed: Miami in Florida ranked first for income growth, while Juneau in Alaska ranked last. Fremont, and other top‑ranking cities, also featured large shares of households earning more than $75,000 annually and low separation and divorce rates, factors WalletHub associated with higher reported happiness.
Why It Matters
WalletHub reported that location can shape daily well-being and that happiness tends to plateau around an annual income of $75,000, helping explain why the United States ranks 24th in the World Happiness Report despite high aggregate wealth, underscoring the importance of city-level conditions beyond pay.
The 2026 results highlighted wide disparities: cities that score strongly on life satisfaction, mental health, physical activity, community ties, and manageable work-life balance consistently outperformed peers, while cities facing higher depression prevalence, economic strain, and weaker community indicators clustered at the bottom.
What To Know
Top-ranked Fremont (overall score 74.09) led all cities on emotional and physical well-being and placed fourth in community and environment, supported by the nation’s lowest separation and divorce rate (9.3 percent), a top-five life expectancy rank, a high share of households above $75,000, low depression prevalence, and the lowest share of adults reporting 14 or more mentally unhealthy days per month, according to WalletHub’s in-depth profile of the city.
Bismarck, North Dakota, ranked No. 2, buoyed by high shares of adults reporting good or better health, strong sleep metrics, a top-tier Sharecare Community Well-Being Index score, and the largest average leisure time per day, according to the analysis.
Scottsdale, Arizona, ranked No. 3, with more than 88 percent of adults reporting good or better health, high physical activity participation, low rates of frequent mental distress, and strong household income levels, according to WalletHub’s city profile.
Rounding out the top 10 were South Burlington, Vermont; Fargo, North Dakota; Overland Park, Kansas; Charleston, South Carolina; Irvine, California; Gilbert, Arizona; and San Jose, California, reflecting balanced performance across health, economic, and community indicators, the ranking showed.
At the other end of the list, Detroit ranked No. 182 overall, preceded by Memphis, Tennessee (No. 181); Shreveport, Louisiana (No. 180); Cleveland, Ohio (No. 179); and Huntington, West Virginia (No. 178), indicating challenges across the composite measures used in the study, according to the ranking table.
Indicators Behind “Happiest” and “Most Depressed” Labels
WalletHub’s “depression rate” indicator showed the lowest prevalence in Jersey City, New Jersey, and the highest in Huntington, West Virginia, a threefold difference, illustrating one of the largest mental-health gaps among the cities reviewed, the report said.
Adequate sleep rates also diverged sharply, with South Burlington, Vermont, ranked highest and Detroit lowest, a twofold gap that aligns with well-being research linking sleep sufficiency to better mental and physical health, according to the findings and methodology references cited by WalletHub.
Cities with high sports-participation rates—led by South Burlington; Seattle, Washington; and Scottsdale—tended to place higher overall, consistent with academic literature WalletHub cited connecting physical activity with happiness, while cities with the lowest sports participation included Laredo, Texas; Gulfport, Mississippi; and Detroit, Michigan, according to the indicator list.
Suicide-rate comparisons further illustrated risk disparities, with Newark, New Jersey, ranking lowest and cities such as Casper, Wyoming, and Juneau, Alaska, tied among the highest, a sevenfold difference, the report said, noting suicide is one of several health metrics in the composite score rather than a sole determinant.
Economic indicators were similarly mixed: Miami, Florida, ranked No. 1 for income growth, while Juneau, Alaska, ranked last, a sixfold gap; Fremont, California, and other top cities featured large shares of households above $75,000 and low separation and divorce rates, both associated with higher reported happiness in the literature cited by the study, WalletHub reported.
What People Are Saying
**Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst, in WalletHub’s 2026 report on Mar. 10, 2026, "**Research shows that having more money only increases your happiness until you’re making at least $75,000 per year – anything more you earn likely won’t have an impact. Therefore, when deciding where to live to maximize your happiness, you’ll want to pick a city that offers more than just a decent average income. The ideal city provides conditions that foster good mental and physical health, like reasonable work hours, short commutes, good weather, and caring neighbors.”
What Happens Next
WalletHub’s methodology weighted emotional and physical well-being at 50 points, income and employment at 25 points, and community and environment at 25 points, with 29 underlying metrics including life satisfaction, depression and suicide rates, sleep, physical health, sports participation, income growth, poverty, job security, work hours, commute time, separation and divorce rates, hate-crime incidents, parkland, leisure time, and a community well-being index, guiding how cities can target interventions to improve scores over time, the report said.
City leaders seeking to raise well-being may focus on expanding access to mental-health resources, promoting physical activity, protecting leisure time, improving job quality and stability, and strengthening social cohesion—areas WalletHub’s indicators associate with higher happiness and lower depression prevalence, as reflected in top-performing cities’ profiles and the study’s research citations.
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