Louisville Lags on WalletHub’s ‘Happiest Cities’ List
I mean, it looks happy enough. Right? Wikimedia Commons/The Pug Father
WalletHub compiled its list of 2022’s Happiest Cities in America. Louisville’s on the list, but just barely.
Of the 182 largest cities in the U.S., Louisville ranks a lagging 159th. The study considered a number of factors, including emotional and physical well-being, income and employment, and community and environment.
“WalletHub drew upon the various findings of positive-psychology research in order to determine which among more than 180 of the largest U.S. cities is home to the happiest people in America,” the report explains. “We examined each city based on 30 key indicators of happiness, ranging from the depression rate to the income-growth rate to average leisure time spent per day.”
Louisville ranked one spot ahead of nearby Indianapolis, interestingly, ranking 158th in the Emotional & Physical Well-Being category; 151st in the Income & Employment category, and 111th in the Community & Environment category.
The happiest city in America, per WalletHub’s study? Fremont, Cal. The least happy city on the list was Detroit. Louisville checked in at less happy than places like Miami, Washington, D.C., and even Fort Wayne, Ind. Now we have one more reason to be unhappy. Well, if we actually take these studies seriously. WalletHub does, and it hammers home the old “location, location, location” adage.
“Location plays a hand in how bright or gloomy our days are,” the report says. “For years, researchers have studied the science of happiness and found that its key ingredients include a positive mental state, healthy body, strong social connections, job satisfaction and financial well-being. However, money can only make you so happy – people who make $75,000 a year won’t get any higher satisfaction from more money. Consider also the fact that while the U.S. is one of the richest countries, it ranks only 14th on the World Happiness Report.”
So, I guess Louisvillians shouldn’t feel so bad?
