These Are The Happiest Cities In California: Study

CALIFORNIA — Location can play a significant role in shaping happiness, according to a new study by WalletHub.

That's good news for Californians, because the study found California is home to some of the happiest cities in the country.

The personal finance website published a report that ranked the happiest cities in the U.S., and 16 cities in the Golden State ranked among the top 50. Five California cities made the top 10, with three of them taking the first three spots on the list.

According to the study, Fremont is the most ideal city, as the Bay Area community ranked as the happiest city in the country. Fremont has the highest share of households with an income above $75,000, the report found.

Money, however, can only bring so much happiness. Although the U.S. is one of the richest countries, it ranks only 23rd on the World Happiness Report.

"Research shows that having more money only increases your happiness until you're making at least $75,000 per year — anything more you earn likely won’t have an impact," WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said. "Therefore, when deciding where to live to maximize your happiness, you'll want to pick a city that offers more than just a decent average income. The ideal city provides conditions that foster good mental and physical health, like reasonable work hours, short commutes, good weather, and caring neighbors."

In addition to income, Fremont topped the list because the people in the city also have the highest rate of life satisfaction, the fourth-highest average life expectancy, and the fifth-lowest depression rate in the country, according to the study.

San Jose ranked as the second-happiest city. The city in Silicon Valley has the longest average life expectancy in the country, the third-highest share of households with an income above $75,000, and the fourth-lowest separation and divorce rate.

Irvine rounded out the top three. The city in Orange County has healthy residents. More than 88% of adults in Irvine report having good or better health, the third-highest percentage in the country, according to the report. The city has the third-lowest percentage of adults who report having 14 or more mentally unhealthy days per month, and it has the eighth-lowest depression rate.

WalletHub compared 182 of the largest cities in America across 29 key indicators of happiness, ranging from depression and suicide rates to income-growth rate and job satisfaction.

Each relevant metric was listed with its corresponding weight. The cities were then scored on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the happiest city possible.

These are the 10 happiest cities in the U.S. in 2025, according to WalletHub:

1. Fremont, California: 73.54
2. San Jose, California: 69.34
3. Irvine, California: 69.32
4. Sioux Falls, South Dakota: 68.66
5. Overland Park, Kansas: 66.93
6. Lincoln, Nebraska: 66.59
7. Madison, Wisconsin: 65.83
8. Scottsdale, Arizona: 65.17
9. San Francisco, California: 64.96
10. Huntington Beach, California: 64.70

These are the cities in California that made the rankings. National rankings are in parenthesis:

1. Fremont (1)
2. San Jose (2)
3. Irvine (3)
4. San Francisco (9)
5. Huntington Beach (10)
6. San Diego (15)
7. Garden Grove (20)
8. Chula Vista (27)
9. Anaheim (30)
10. Santa Clarita (31)
11. Santa Rosa (32)
12. Oakland (35)
13. Glendale (38)
14. Rancho Cucamonga (42)
15. Oceanside (43)
16. Santa Ana (48)
17. Oxnard (63)
18. Fontana (72)
19. Riverside (76)
20. Los Angeles (77)
21. Ontario (86)
22. Long Beach (87)
23. Moreno Valley (89)
24. Sacramento (92)
25. Modesto (103)
26. Stockton (112)
27. Fresno (126)
28. Bakersfield (127)
29. San Bernardino (135)

See the full list on WalletHub.