The financial advice outlet WalletHub has issued its annual list of the top 25 happiest cities in the U.S., based on 29 “key indicators of happiness,” such as income growth rate, life expectancy, job satisfaction, weather, sports participation and divorce rate.
The top 10 were Fremont, Calif.; Overland Park, Kan.; San Jose, Calif.; Madison, Wis.; Irvine, Calif.; Honolulu, Hawaii; San Francisco, Calif.; Pearl City, Hawaii; Columbia, Md. and Scottsdale, Ariz.
Nine of the 25 happiest cities were in California, including Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, San Diego, Glendale and Anaheim.
Fremont (Pop. 227,514) is located between No. 7 San Francisco Bay and No. 3 San Jose on the eastern side of the bay. It claimed the top spot, in part, for low rates of depression, long life spans and roughly 80 percent of households with an income above $75,000 — a number sometimes seen as a threshold for a higher quality of life.
