California city named 'happiest' in America for third year in a row

A northern California city was named the happiest city in America for the third time in a row, according to the personal finance website WalletHub’s 2023 Happiest Cities in America ranking. 

Fremont, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area with a population of 230,504, ranked number 1 for the third consecutive year. 

WalletHub compares more than 180 of the nation’s largest cities across 30 different indicators, including the amount of leisure time, physical and emotional wellbeing, community engagement, and income-growth rate, to find the happiest city in the nation.

The cities are then graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 being the highest score of happiness. 

Fremont had the lowest depression rate at 11.90%—2.5 times lower than the highest of 20.10% in Huntington, West Virginia. The Bay Area city also had the lowest separation and divorce rate at 9.02%—4.6 times lower than Cleveland, the city with the highest at 41.59%.

It also ranked number one for emotional and physical well-being, as well as community and environment. 

The city is named after one of California's discoverers, John C. Fremont who discovered the famous Oregon trail, fought in the Bear Flag Revolution, a near bloodless triumph that won California as a new territory for the United States. 

Shortly after the revolution, Fremont went on to serve as the state's first U.S. Senator. In 1856 he ran as the Republican Party's first presidential candidate on an abolitionist ticket against slavery.

Two other California cities made the top 5, despite high housing costs. San Jose placed second place and San Francisco placed fifth. 

Irvine, Oakland, Huntington Beach, and San Diego made it to the list’s top 20 as well. 

According to the ranking, the least happy city in the nation was Detroit, Michigan. 

America’s top 20 happiest cities: 

1. Fremont, CA
2. San Jose, CA
3. Madison, WI
4. Overland Park, KS
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Irvine, CA
7. Columbia, MD
8. Sioux Falls, SD
9. South Burlington, VT
10. Burlington, VT
11. Seattle, WA
12. Bismarck, ND
13. Oakland, CA
14. Huntington Beach, CA
15. San Diego, CA
16. Scottsdale, AZ
17. Minneapolis, MN
18. Yonkers, NY
19. Aurora, IL
20. Fargo, ND