Minnesota, Wisconsin Home to Two of the Happiest Cities in the US

What is it that makes a city 'happy'? Is it the number of things there are to do in the area? Maybe it's the number of outdoor recreation spots. We'll dig into that a bit more because a Minnesota city and a Wisconsin city have been named some of the happiest in the entire country!

There were 182 cities in the rankings done by Wallethub. While neither the Minnesota or the Wisconsin city take home the title of 'happiest city', one of them is in the top 5 and the other is in the top 20.

How They Determined What Makes a City 'Happy'

Wallethub says that the perfect formula for happiness includes "a positive mental state, healthy body, strong social connections, job satisfaction and financial well-being." There were 30 "key indicators" that they looked at to determine the rankings. Some of those include depression rate, income-growth rate, average leisure time spent per day, sports participation rate, and adequate sleep rate.

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Top 20 Happiest Cities in the Country

Let's see which cities made the top 20 happiest cities in the US according to Wallethub's study.

20. Fargo, ND

19. Aurora, IL

18. Yonkers, NY

17. Minneapolis, MN

16. Scottsdale, AZ

15. San Diego, CA

14. Huntington Beach, CA

13. Oakland, CA

12. Bismark, ND

11. Seattle, WA

10. Burlington, VT

9. South Burlington, VT

8. Sioux Falls, SD

7. Columbia, MD

6. Irvine, CA

5. San Francisco, CA

4. Overland Park, KS

3. Madison, WI

2. San Jose, CA

1. Fremont, CA

Look at that, Minneapolis coming in at number 17 and Madison coming in at number 3! Not too shabby.