Happiest cities in the US revealed we have good and bad news for New York, New Jersey and California

Where you live can determine how happy — or unhappy — you feel.Fremont, California, has been named the happiest city in the United States, according to a new study from WalletHub.

The California city also topped the list in 2025.One contributing factor to its ranking is that the city has the highest share of households — nearly 80% — with an income above $75,000.Five other California cities made the top 25 happiest: Irvine (No.8), San Jose (No.

10), San Francisco (No.17), San Diego (No.

21) and Huntington Beach (No.25).Los Angeles, meanwhile, ranked as the 87th happiest city overall, coming in 75th for emotional and physical well-being, 96th for income and employment, and 126th for community and environment.Back East, New York City was ranked a relatively dismal 59th with a total score of 57.63.Out of 182, NYC ranked 48th for emotional and physical well-being, 71st for community and environment — and 152 for income and employment.

However, NYC did have the fifth-lowest suicide rate.Northerly neighbor Yonkers was the 38th happiest city overall and 18th in emotional and physical well-being.

Yonkers wasn’t that far ahead of NYC when it came to income and employment, ranking 146, though it did fall behind in community and environment coming in 99th place.In the Garden State, Jersey City beat out New York City, ranking 31st happiest overall.Jersey City also ranked much higher than NYC in emotional and physical well-being, coming in at No.

16.According to the study, Jersey City was the city with the lowest rate of depression and had the second-lowest suicide rate.For its research, WalletHub analyzed 182 of the largest U.S.cities, evaluating them across 29 key indicators of happiness, including depression rates, income growth and average daily leisure time.

The company noted that studies have shown that increasing income up to $75,000 increases happiness, but making more than that does not, so cities where a lot of people make at least that are likely to...