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.