The past year was one of the most sorrowful in modern times, but it didn’t stop Fremont from looking on the bright side. The Bay Area community has topped WalletHub’s nationwide list of the Happiest Cities in America in 2021.
Fremont was followed by Bismarck and Fargo, North Dakota; Madison, Wisconsin; and San Jose. Other California cities in the top 20 are Santa Rosa (#10), Irvine (#12), and San Francisco (#13). Apparently Bay Area residents are pretty happy even though they've been getting the hell out of dodge.
America’s happiest cities share several core characteristics. They feature some combination of emotional and physical health, a good economic outlook, and a clean and stable environment.
WalletHub considered everything from depression and suicide rates to life expectancy, opioid use, divorce, unemployment and — of course — COVID death rates for capita.
See the full list here.
List and data were compiled by WalletHub and do not reflect statistics on all US or California cities.