Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison.
Two Midwestern cities found themselves in the top five of a new ranking measuring American cities by happiness by looking at metrics such as emotional well-being, income and employment.
In the list published by WalletHub, both Overland Park, Kan. and Madison, Wis. were ranked in the top five, coming in at second and fourth place, respectively.
The list crowned Fremont, Calif. as the happiest city in the nation, with fellow Golden State cities San Jose and Irvine closing out the remaining spots in the top five.
Madison ranked in the top 10 for both the emotional and physical well-being of their residents, as well as the overall community and environment that residents live in, according to the findings.
The highest-ranked city in Illinois was suburban Aurora, coming in at No. 37. The community ranked well for emotional and physical well-being, according to researchers.
Researchers used data in three key dimensions: Emotional and Physical Well-Being, Income & Employment and Community & Environment. A total of 29 metrics were assigned to those three dimensions, with each city ranked on a weighted scale, according to researchers.
As for Chicago, the Windy City came in at No. 83 of the 182 cities listed in the ranking.
A list of the top 15 cities in the ranking can be found below:
- 1. Fremont, California
- 2. Overland Park, Kansas
- 3. San Jose, California
- 4. Madison, Wisconsin
- 5. Irvine, California
- 6. Honolulu, Hawaii
- 7. San Francisco, California
- 8. Pearl City, Hawaii
- 9. Columbia, Maryland
- 10. Scottsdale, Arizona
- 11. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- 12. Huntington Beach, California
- 13. Minneapolis, Minnesota
- 14. Garden Grove, California
- 15. San Diego, California
A look a the full list and more information on how the rankings were compiled can be found here.
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