WalletHub Names its 2021 Happiest Cities in America: Charleston, SC comes in at #18

WalletHub and Financial Writer Adam McCann have released their findings on the Happiest Cities in the America. This year, our friendly Charleston, South Carolina came in at #18.

Below are the methodology and list of the top 75

Methodology

In order to determine the happiest cities in America, WalletHub compared 182 of the largest cities — including the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state — across three key dimensions: 1) Emotional & Physical Well-Being, 2) Income & Employment and 3) Community & Environment.

We evaluated these categories using 31 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing maximum happiness. Data for metrics marked with an asterisk (*) were available only at the state level.

We then determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Our analysis draws upon the findings of the following research, each of which has indicated a correlation between our data and happiness:

• Happy People Live Longer: Subjective Well-Being Contributes to Health and Longevity (Chan and Diener, 2010)
• Happiness from Ordinary and Extraordinary Experiences (Bhattacharjee and Mogilner, 2014)
• Sports Participation and Happiness: Evidence from U.S. Micro Data (Huang and Humphreys, 2010)
• Unhappy Cities (Glaeser, et al., 2014)

Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gallup-Sharecare, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Feeding America, Chmura Economics & Analytics, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, The Trust for Public Land, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Glassdoor.com, Indeed, The New York Times and WalletHub research.

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