Aurora is One of the Happiest Cities in the Country!

The pandemic has been rough . . . especially for people in larger cities, where interactions with people are a bigger part of daily life.  But some cities apparently did a better job keeping people happy.

A new study ranked more than 180 of America’s biggest cities by HAPPINESS . . . using factors like:  Life satisfaction scores, depression rates, physical and emotional health, income growth, employment rates, job satisfaction, and weather.

Aurora, our very own City of Lights, came in at #21 in the nation! It scored a particularly high score in the “Community and Environment” category, coming in 8th in the country.

Aurora is the third highest ranking city in the Midwest behind Madison, WI (6) and Minneapolis (12).

Source: WalletHub

Chicago came in at #56.

 

The 10 happiest cities are:  Fremont, California . . . Columbia, Maryland . . . San Francisco . . . San Jose, California . . . Irvine, California . . . Madison, Wisconsin . . . Seattle . . . Overland Park, Kansas . . . Huntington Beach, California . . . and San Diego.

So California had SIX of the Top 10.

Other high-ranking Midwestern Cities include Minneapolis (12), Cedar Rapids, IA (29), Lincoln, NE (35), and Omaha, NE (47)

And the 10 at the bottom of the list are:  Detroit, which ranked last at 182nd . . . Gulfport, Mississippi . . . Memphis . . . Huntington, West Virginia . . . Montgomery, Alabama . . . Cleveland . . . Augusta, Georgia . . . Fort Smith, Arkansas . . .Mobile, Alabama . . . and Shreveport, Louisiana.

So there’s big representation from the South.  There’s no one factor that seems to sink Southern cities, it’s more of a combination of things.

If you’d like to read more about how WalletHub.com came to these conclusions before you rant on social media about how wrong they are and Aurora is just the worst, you can read about it here.