Are You Living in One of America’s Happiest Cities?
We love city living. Though some might argue against it — it’s noisy, crowded and expensive — new research is proving what those of us in urban centers already know: City living is the best. Some might base their choice of city on closeness to college or job prospects, but with new research emerging from Gallup, we can now pick our home based on how happy it will make us.
Within its research, The Gallup Organization has listed that the happiest cities are also the healthiest. In their polling of healthy communities, it turns out that cities that focus on active lifestyles and include things like bike paths, lots of walkable areas and open community spaces tend to make people happy. It might come as a surprise, though, that it’s always bigger cities that put these community initiatives in place over smaller towns.
And what city is the happiest? Well, you might be surprised to know that it’s Boston, which just slightly outranked San Francisco. Chicago, New York and Washington rounded out the top five. Other factors that were included in the rankings were accessibility and public transit.
Sadly, if you live in Fort Wayne, Oklahoma City, OK, Indianapolis or Durham, NC, you might find your happiness index a bit lower than those in the happiest cities. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make your experience as joy-filled as anywhere else.
How do you measure happiness at home? Tell us @BritandCo!
(Photos via Getty)