This California Town Was Just Crowned the Happiest City in the U.S. for the Fifth Year in a Row

It looks like the West is home to some of the happiest people in the U.S., according to a new study by WalletHub. The personal finance website just released its 2024 Happiest Cities in America report and 11 cities in the West made the list—including Fremont, California, which took the number one spot for the fifth year in a row.

To compile the list, WalletHub compared 182 of the largest cities (150 most populated U.S. cities and at least two of the most populated cities in each state) across three key dimensions: Emotional & Physical Well-Being, Income & Employment, and Community & Environment. They used 29 metrics to evaluate, such as Life-Satisfaction Index, depression rate, adequate-sleep rate, sports-participation rate, life expectancy, income-growth rate, unemployment rate, separation & divorce rate, and a Well-Being “Community” Index Score.

Located in the Bay Area, Fremont boasts the highest share of households with an income above $75,000, at nearly 80%, proving that, in a way, money can buy happiness. WalletHub found that people in Fremont also have a high rate of life satisfaction, a low depression rate, and a long lifespan on average. And that’s not all—the city also has the lowest separation and divorce rate in the country at 8.9% and it has the lowest share of adults who report having 14 or more mentally unhealthy days in the past month.

Another Bay Area city high on the list was San Jose, which came in third place. According to WalletHub, San Jose has the longest average life expectancy in the country, a low separation and divorce rate, and low rates of depression and suicide. The city also scores the best on health and wellness company Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index and Life-Satisfaction Index.

San Francisco was seventh on the WalletHub list, but the Western representation wasn’t restricted to just Northern California—other cities on the list include Irvine, California (#5), Honolulu, Hawaii (#6), Pearl City, Hawaii (#8), Scottsdale, Arizona (#10), Huntington Beach, California (#12), Garden Grove, California (#14), San Diego, California (#15), and Seattle, Washington (#18).

Take a look at the top 20 list below and read the whole report here.

1. Fremont, California
2. Overland Park, Kansas
3. San Jose, California
4. Madison, Wisconsin
5. Irvine, California
6. Honolulu, Hawaii
7. San Francisco, California
8. Pearl City, Hawaii
9. Columbia, Maryland
10. Scottsdale, Arizona,
11. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
12. Huntington Beach, California
13. Minneapolis Minnesota
14. Garden Grove, California
15. San Diego, California
16. Fargo North Dakota
17. Portland, Maine
18. Seattle, Washington
19. Lincoln, Nebraska
20. Bismarck, North Dakota