California Cities Top List Of Happiest Places To Live In America

LOS ANGELES, CA — The California Dream is still going strong, according to a new study that has California dominating the list of the nation’s happiest cities.

Despite talk of the infamous California exodus, the homeless crisis, the lack of affordable housing, and frustration with pandemic measures, people in the Golden State are actually among the most contented nationwide, according to a report by the finance website WalletHub.

WalletHub released its annual list of the happiest places to live in the United States, and four of the top five cities are in California. The company compared 182 large cities and looked at 30 metrics such as a city’s divorce and suicide rates, opioid prescriptions, income growth, life expectancy and job opportunities.

So, according to Wallethub, Fremont, California is the happiest place in America. Columbia, Maryland comes in at number two followed by San Francisco, San Jose and Irvine to round out the top five happiest cities.

Fremont seems to have a lot going for it. According to WalletHub, it is one of America's least stressed cities and the second-best place to raise a family, it’s ranked fifth as the most caring city in the U.S, and it’s the city with the lowest separation and divorce rate.

WalletHub turned to Chip Espinoza, Interim Provost, Dean of Strategy & Innovation at Vanguard University of Southern California to understand how much happiness is affected by where you live.

“I believe it has a huge impact,” Espinoza said. “Long commutes and traffic are happiness killers. I hope that COVID has taught us that our workforce can be productive in a virtual or flex schedule. I grew up in Northern New Mexico and I love the mountains and native food. I have lived in Southern California for the past 35-years, but I live in a canyon at the base of Saddleback Mountain. It is life-giving to me to drive home to the canyon. As for the food, I still order my Chile from New Mexico.”

Among the rest of the 30 factors that WalletHub considered in its search for happiness were physical health, depression rates, sleep rates, sports participation, vaccination rates, life expectancy, drug use, job security, unemployment, bankruptcy rates, weekly work hours, commute times, daily leisure time, and weather. By these standards, San Bernardino is a happier place than New Orleans.

In all, 29 California cities made the happiest cities list.

They are ranked:

• Fremont: 1
• San Francisco: 3
• San Jose: 4
• Irvine: 5
• Huntington Beach: 9
• San Diego: 10
• Santa Rosa: 14
• Santa Clarita: 15
• Oakland: 16
• Glendale: 18
• Anaheim: 20
• Oxnard: 23
• Garden Grove: 24
• Chula Vista: 25
• Oceanside: 33
• Santa Ana: 38
• Sacramento: 49
• Los Angeles: 54
• Long Beach: 60
• Rancho Cucamonga: 71
• Ontario: 96
• Fontana: 99
• Modesto: 101
• Moreno Valley: 102
• Riverside: 104
• Stockton: 122
• Fresno: 123
• Bakersfield: 126
• San Bernardino: 153