Thomas Jefferson commented: “Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.” For many Americans, this encompasses their situations: where they live, how their children are doing (for those people who have them), their financial situations, whether they have enough to eat, if they are healthy, whether they have enough to retire, and if they like where they live.
To identify the happiest city in America, according to its residents, 24/7 Tempo reviewed the happiness score of all 383 metro areas in the United States from digital health company Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index.
The index measures whether individuals feel a sense of purpose, have supportive relationships, are financially secure, are satisfied with their community and are in good physical health. Sharecare surveyed more than 450,000 U.S. adults, concentrating on these five areas of individual well-being, as well as analyzed more than 600 elements of social determinants of health from additional data sources.
The West and Rocky Mountains regions, specifically California and Colorado, appear to be the states with the most cities where residents feel happy. The happiness of residents in the greater San Francisco area (the winner for a second year in a row) is bolstered by strong performance in several categories, including housing and transportation, food access and financial stability, according to Sharecare.
Unlike the San Francisco area, financial well-being did not improve between 2019 and 2020 in most metropolitan areas, even in those cities that are among the happiest, due to the negative economic impact the pandemic had in 2020. All other individual well-being factors, however, including physical, community, social and purpose, improved between 2019 to 2020.
Click here to see all the happiest cities in America, according to residents.