(NEXSTAR) — Where you live can impact how much housing costs, whether you saw the total solar eclipse in early April, or how much of a lottery jackpot you take home. According to a new study, where you live can also impact how happy you are.
There are multiple factors that can impact your happiness. Personal finance website SmartAsset reviewed a number of those across 90 of the nation’s largest cities, including how many residents earn $100,000 or more, life expectancy, marriage rates, and traffic volume.
There may be other factors that influence your happiness, but these variables — based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute’s County Health Rankings and Roadmaps report — help give a general idea of perceived happiness.
Landing at the top of the list was Arlington, Virginia, which sits just outside the District of Columbia. Across the 11 “happiness metrics” SmartAsset reviewed, Arlington ranked within the top 10 of seven. Residents of Arlington have the longest life expectancy at 85.3 years and among the most space for physical activity. The city did, however, rank as one of the most congested when it came to traffic, and recently was listed as one of the most expensive to live in for a family of four.
While Arlington ranked as the home of the happiest folks, it was California that largely dominated the top of the list — the state had three cities within the top 10. The highest ranking was the Bay Area city of Fremont, which ranked third overall. Ranking second was Plano, Texas, which is just north of Dallas.
Texas didn’t fare as well on the opposite end of the list, however. Three of the state’s cities landed in the bottom 10 of SmartAsset’s report. The lowest ranking was the border city of Laredo, coming in at No. 89.
Ranking below it was Detroit, Michigan, which had the lowest percentage of households earning $100,000 or more and marriage rate, as well as the highest poverty rate.
You can see the full rankings in the interactive table below. To see each city ranked based on the factors SmartAsset calculated, click here.
Overall, cities from 33 states made the list. California had the most at 16, followed by Florida at 12. California had the most land within the top 20 at four, followed by three each from Colorado and North Carolina.
As happy as some of these cities may be, the U.S. as a whole seems to be less happy than those across the pond.
For the first time ever, the U.S. has dropped off the list of happiest countries. The World Happiness Report, released in March, ranked the U.S. as 23rd overall, marking the first time in the report’s 12-year history that the country hasn’t been in the top 20.
The drop in America’s happiness score was due in part to a big drop in the well-being of young people. If you just look at the happiness of people under 30, the U.S. actually ranked in 62nd place. For people over the age of 60, the U.S. came in 10th place.
Nexstar’s Alix Martichoux contributed to this report.
