Frisco and Plano, Texas make top 10 ‘Happiest cities in America’

TEXAS, USA — Does cash actually purchase happiness? 

A report put together by SmartAsset cited a 2021 University of Pennsylvania research discovered a correlation between happiness and earnings progress. But cash is not all the things. 

In order to have a look at the “happiest cities in America,” SmartAsset analyzed 164 cities for 13 completely different metrics throughout three classes: private finance, well-being and high quality of life. Each metropolis was given a rating in every of those three areas and ranked one via 50. 

Two North Texas cities cracked the top 10: Frisco and Plano. Austin was the one different metropolis to make the top 50 listing (No. 20). 

The happiest metropolis in America, according to this study, is Sunnyvale, Calif. 

Frisco was ranked No. 6 total, and Plano got here in one spot behind at No. 6.

However, Frisco topped all different cities in two of the 13 metrics analyzed: marriage price (62.6%) and proportion of residents residing under the poverty-level (2.5%). Frisco got here in at No.2 for its typical residing prices in comparison with the median family earnings (29.55%) and its violent crime price (roughly 86 crimes per 100,000 residents). 

Plano had the fourth-highest marriage price (56.9%) and the Tenth-lowest violent crime price (roughly 155 for each 100,000 residents). The research additionally concluded that simply greater than one-third of Plano residents earn $100,000 or extra and typical value of residing bills make up 40.43% of the median family earnings in the town.

Here is a look at the rankings: 

Here is a breakdown of the three classes and the metrics used to calculate their respective scores: 

• Percent of people incomes $100,000 or extra. Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 1-year American Community Survey.
• Cost of residing as a % of earnings. This is the price of residing (for a person with no youngsters) divided by the median family earnings. Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 1-year American Community Survey. Cost of residing knowledge is from MIT’s residing wage calculator.
• Personal chapter filings per 100,000 residents. Data is from uscourts.gov and is at a county-level.
• Down payment-to-income ratio. This is the ratio between a 20% down fee on the median-valued house and the median family earnings. Data is from the 2021 1-year American Community Survey.

• Percent reporting poor psychological well being days. Data is from the 2022 County Health Rankings.
• Life expectancy (years). Data is from the 2022 County Health Rankings.
• Percent who report bodily inactivity. Data is from the 2022 County Health Rankings.
• Percent of adults with medical insurance. Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 1-year American Community Survey.

• Percent of adults residing under poverty-level. Data is from the Census Bureau’s 2021 1-year American Community Survey.
• Marriage price. Research by the GSS over 5 a long time has proven that individuals who have been married (whether or not or not they at the moment nonetheless are) are happier than those that’ve by no means been married. For this purpose, this metric was included in our evaluation. Data is from the Census Bureau’s 2020 5-year American Community Survey.
• Average commute time. This is the common variety of minutes it takes for a employee to commute to work. Data comes from the Census Bureau’s 2021 1-year American Community Survey.
• Concentration of eating, bars and leisure institutions. This is the variety of eating, bars and leisure as a proportion of all institutions. Data comes from the Census Bureau’s 2020 County Business Patterns Survey.
• Violent crime price. This is the variety of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Reporting database in addition to NeighborhoodScout.com.