20 Big Cities in America Where Residents Are the Unhappiest, Study Shows

Feeling happy is a core part of human desire. No matter how many people say that happiness comes from within, some environments are undoubtedly more conducive to a happier life than others.

Studies show that happiness is derived from two main factors: Endogenic, which is biological and cognitive, and exogenic, which is behavioral, economic, and geographical. WalletHub ran a study to determine the happiest big cities in America, focusing on the exogenic side of happiness.

Naturally, the 182 major American cities WalletHub studied revealed varying levels of happiness. This article focuses on the 20 lowest-ranking cities for happiness.

Measuring Happiness

Measuring an emotion is no easy feat, but WalletHub was up for the task. They started by putting together a list of the 150 most populated cities in the U.S. They then ensured that they included at least two of the most populated cities in every state, for a total of 182 cities in their study.

WalletHub used 29 metrics pertaining to happiness, dividing them into three categories, grading them on a 100-point scale, and weighing them for importance to happiness. The three main categories and some of their subcategories included:

• Emotional & Physical Well-Being (depression rate, adequate sleep rate, life expectancy, life satisfaction index)
• Income & Employment (share of households with incomes above $75,000, job satisfaction, unemployment rate, bankruptcy rate)
• Community & Environment (separation & divorce rate, ideal weather, hate crime incidents per capita)

The following rankings are based on the total score of these categories, with lower scores indicating unhappier cities. We also included the individual scores of each category; they’re ranked from 1 to 182, with “1” being the happiest city for a category and “182” being the unhappiest.

Without further ado, these are the least happy cities in America, starting with the unhappiest of all.

Happiest City

Fremont, California, is the happiest big city in America, with a total score of 74.16. It ranked first in the nation for emotional and physical well-being, and third for community and environment.

Overland Park, Kansas, came in second place for the happiest big city, and San Jose, California, came in third place. Madison, Wisconsin, and Irvine, California, ranked in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Understanding Happiness

If you don’t live in one of the happiest cities in America, here’s some potentially comforting news: According to research, biological and health factors play some of the most critical roles in happiness.

Happiness — or lack thereof — can even be traced to infants, where scientists believe differences in temperament and happiness are an indicator of biological influences.

Does Money Buy Happiness?

The reason WalletHub chose incomes above $75,000 as a benchmark for happiness is because studies show that Americans who make less than $75k per year tend to have lower rates of happiness.

Money isn’t everything, though. The same study found no correlation between increased happiness and income among people who make more than $75,000 per year.

The bottom line? Money appears to buy happiness up to $75,000.

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Whether you dream of being in the top 10% or think you might already be there, one thing is certain: The income a household makes to be in the top 10% club varies by state. Here’s how much you need to make to have a higher income than 90% of Americans.

How Much Money It Takes To Be in the Top 10% by State

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