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Five California Cities Listed Among 20 Happiest Nationwide
Cities

With March 20 being International Day of Happiness and the average American’s stress level rising significantly for the first time since 2007 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2021’s Happiest Cities in America, as well as accompanying videos.

In order to determine where people in America are most content with their lives, WalletHub compared more than 180 of the largest U.S. cities across 31 key indicators of happiness. The data set ranges from depression rate to income-growth rate to average leisure time spent per day.

To view the full report, visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/happiest-places-to-live/32619.

California was well represented as a state, with five cities making the top 20.

Top 20 Happiest Cities in America, according to the survey, are: Fremont, CA ranking first, followed by Bismarck, ND; Fargo, ND; Madison, WI; San Jose, CA: South Burlington, VT; Lincoln, NE; Columbia, MD; Cedar Rapids, IA and Santa Rosa, CA rounding out the top 10. Ranking number 11 was Sioux Falls, SD, followed by Irvine, CA; San Francisco, CA; Pearl City, HI; Burlington, VT; Minneapolis, MN; Plano, TX; Charleston, SC; Rapid City, SD; and Seattle, WA.

Key findings:

• San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont, California, all have the lowest depression rate, 11.30 percent, which is 2.9 times lower than in Billings, Montana, the city with the highest at 32.30 percent.

• Jersey City, New Jersey, has the lowest number of suicides per 100,000 residents, 5.97, which is six times lower than in Casper, Wyoming, the city with the highest at 36.10.

• Fremont, California, has the lowest separation and divorce rate, 9.21 percent, which is 4.4 times lower than in Cleveland, the city with the highest at 40.77 percent.

• South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest share of adults sleeping less than 7 hours per night, 28.50 percent, which is 1.8 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 51.40 percent.

• Cheyenne, Wyoming, has the lowest average commute time, 14.30 minutes, which is 2.9 times lower than in New York, the city with the highest at 41.50 minutes.