Seattle, WA
Seattle among Top 20 happiest cities in U.S., study finds
SEATTLE – Seattle has ranked among the Top 20 happiest cities in America, according to a new study.
A study from WalletHub ranked 182 of the largest cities in the U.S. based on how “happy” they are — weighing metrics like emotional and physical well-being, income and employment, and community and environment. Seattle is the top-ranked city in Washington at #18, followed by Tacoma at #89, Vancouver at #100 and Spokane at #124.
Fremont, California earned the #1 spot owing to 80% of households making an income above $75,000.
“Money can buy happiness to a certain degree because a stable income is essential for a person’s physical and mental well-being,” said WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe. “However, plenty of other factors affect happiness as well, and the happiest cities combine economic security with kind communities and conditions that are conducive to low depression rates and high life satisfaction.”
Seattle’s high ranking comes from emotional and physical well-being (ranked 8th) and income and employment (ranked 14th). Surprisingly, the Emerald City ranks 128th for community and environment, beaten out by Tacoma (103rd). Looking at individual metrics, Seattle ranks among the highest for adequate sleep rate, while Spokane ranks at one of the highest depression rates in the U.S.
The study’s methodology takes each category — emotional and physical well-being, income and employment, community and environment — and measures it based on several subcategories, each weighed to varying levels:
- Emotional and physical well-being
Life-satisfaction index
Depression rate
Suicide rate
Adequate sleep rate
Physical health index
Sports participation rate
Share of people who used marijuana in the past month
Opioid prescriptions per 100 people
Share of adults with mental health determined “not good”
Life expectancy
Food insecurity rate
- Life-satisfaction index
- Depression rate
- Suicide rate
- Adequate sleep rate
- Physical health index
- Sports participation rate
- Share of people who used marijuana in the past month
- Opioid prescriptions per 100 people
- Share of adults with mental health determined “not good”
- Life expectancy
- Food insecurity rate
- Income and employment
Income growth rate
Households earning annual incomes over $75,000
Poverty rate
Job satisfaction
4+ star job opportunities
Job security
Unemployment rate
Underemployment rate
Bankruptcy rate
Weekly work hours
Commute time
- Income growth rate
- Households earning annual incomes over $75,000
- Poverty rate
- Job satisfaction
- 4+ star job opportunities
- Job security
- Unemployment rate
- Underemployment rate
- Bankruptcy rate
- Weekly work hours
- Commute time
- Community and environment
Separation and divorce rate
Hate crime incidents per capita
Ideal weather
Acres of park land per 1,000 residents
Average leisure time spent per day
Well-being community index score
- Separation and divorce rate
- Hate crime incidents per capita
- Ideal weather
- Acres of park land per 1,000 residents
- Average leisure time spent per day
- Well-being community index score
For the full list, visit the WalletHub study here.
Police are talking with a person who reported being a victim of a street robbery late tonight at or near California SW and SW Raymond. The initial report was that two Black male juveniles, both in masks and hoodies, held the victim up at gunpoint, stole their phone, and got away in a gray Tesla with no plates.
12:55 PM: Again this year, the West Seattle Junction Association has decked the heart of the business district with rainbow flags to celebrate Pride on the night of June’s WS Art Walk. As featured in our calendar and daily event list, Pride events tonight include a meetup at VAIN (4513 California SW) at 6 pm and then a “dance party” in the Walk All Ways intersection at 6:30; that’ll be followed by a drag show at Jet City Labs (4547 California SW) and the only event on the slate that’ not all-ages, an 8:30 pm afterparty at The Poggie.
ADDED 3:15 PM: Victoria at VAIN sent several reasons to stop there at the start of tonight’s celebration – “We have a limited number of Pride flags to give away before we proceed down to the intersection. We have a small run of West Seattle Pride shirts to sell. PFLAG wil have an info table with some giveaways as well.”
We’re just a few days from the first 2026 FIFA World Cup match in Seattle.
If you like driving, you should probably just avoid Seattle. Using your car is not going to be easy on game days. As King County executive Girmay Zahilay said during preparations, “for visitors and residents, our message is simple: leave the driving to us.”
Transit is really going to be the only way to get near the stadium district on those six match days.
Seattle has created an exclusion or no-go zone from Yesler south through the stadiums on those days. The southern border of the exclusion zone is Edgar Martinez Drive. You will only be able to drive southbound on 1st Avenue. That’s the only street available to cars from about four hours before matches until the traffic has cleared.
Alaskan Way will remain open. So will 4th Avenue.
Pioneer Square will be off-limits to almost all car traffic. Street parking is also a casualty. Those spots will go away as early as 2 a.m. on game days. There is no drive-up lot parking on match days. Those parking passes for lots outside the exclusion zone must be purchased in advance.
Sound Transit is the best way to get to the matches
CEO Dow Constantine shared this piece of advice.
“From the north, we’re going to encourage you to use Pioneer Square Station,” he said. “If you’re coming from the east, we’re going to encourage you to use the International District Chinatown Station. If you’re coming from the south, we’re going to encourage you to use the Stadium Station. All of these give you ready access to Seattle Stadium and to all the festivities around the matches.”
And Sound Transit has increased train frequency to move as many people as possible.
“Operationally, on game days, we will increase service on the 1 and 2 Lines, so we’ll be running eight-minute service on all the lines all evening long,” Constantine said. “That means four-minute service all day long from the International District to Lynnwood.”
The ferry service is maxing its capacity to meet demand. So is King County Metro.
Here are the dates you want to avoid being in downtown Seattle if you’re not going to games.
June 15. June 19. June 24. June 26. July 1. July 6.
Most construction is taking this time off to provide as much space as possible during the event.
You can ride bikes and scooters through the exclusion zone, but you will be subject to an 8 mph speed limit.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
Follow @https://twitter.com/newsguysully
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