California, state with Highest Latino Population, Dominates Ranking of Happiest Cities in the U.S.

The ranking conducted by WalletHub evaluated 80 large cities in the U.S. (Credit: Freepik)

A recent study has ranked the 20 happiest cities in the United States. The findings highlight a notable trend: satisfaction levels are notably higher on the West Coast, particularly in California, the state with the highest Latino population in the country.

The ranking, made by WalletHub, a personal finance company headquartered in Miami, analyzed the levels of happiness of the nation's 180 largest cities using various metrics such as sports participation, rate of depression, work hours and income growth.

The happiest city was the San Francisco Bay Area, which, according to the study, boasts the highest indicators of happiness across 29 key measures, including the lowest separation and divorce rates, as well as the highest share of households with an income over $75,000.

Overall, seven out of the 20 happiest cities were located in the state of California, including San José (3rd spot), Irvine (5th), San Francisco (7th), Huntington Beach (12th), and San Diego (15th).

California is well known for being highly appealing to Latinos in the U.S., holding roughly 25% of all the Latino population in the country, followed by Texas (19%) and Florida (9%), as reported by the Pew Research Center.

While not all of the cities of the 'Golden State' mentioned above have a significant proportion of Latino population, some of them widely surpass the national average, 19%.

Take the case of San Jose. Over 30% of the almost million residents in the city, known for technological hub Silicon Valley, are Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data from July 2022.

The report of 2024 Happiest Cities, which pursued the goal of finding out which cities provide the best conditions for Americans' mental and physical well being, also shows a huge gap between West and East Coast cities. No city in New York, New Jersey, Florida or Massachusetts got into the top 20.

These Are the 20 Happiest Cities According to the Study

1. Fremont, CA
2. Overland Park, KS
3. San Jose, CA
4. Madison, WI
5. Irvine, CA
6. Honolulu, HI
7. San Francisco, CA
8. Pearl City, HI
9. Columbia, MD
10. Scottsdale, AZ
11. Sioux Falls, SD
12. Huntington Beach, CA
13. Minneapolis, MN
14. Garden Grove, CA
15. San Diego, CA
16. Fargo, ND
17. Portland, ME
18. Seattle, WA
19. Lincoln, NE
20. Bismarck, ND

Other Key Stats

• Pearl City, Hawaii, has the lowest depression rate, which is 2.7 times lower than in Lewiston, Maine, the city with the highest rate.
• Newark, New Jersey, has the lowest number of suicides per 100,000 residents, which is 7.9 times lower than in Casper, Wyoming, the city with the highest rate.
• Fremont, California, has the lowest separation & divorce rate, which is 4.6 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest rate.
• South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest share of adults sleeping less than 7 hours per night, which is 1.9 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest rate.
• Missoula, Montana and Bismarck, North Dakota, have the lowest average commute time, which is 2.6 times lower than in New York, the city with the highest rate.

© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.