Las Vegas Valley Cities Rank In Bottom Half Of America's Happiest

LAS VEGAS, NV - Living in one of the world's most entertaining cities has its perks. Happiness, apparently, isn't one of them. The three major cities in the Las Vegas Valley were all ranked in the bottom half of WalletHub's ranking of the happiest cities in America.

Henderson came in 105th on the list, North Las Vegas was ranked 145th, and Las Vegas was ranked 156th.

To come up with the rankings, WalletHub compared 182 of the largest American cities, including the 150 most populated cities in every state. WalletHub also included at least two of the most populated cities in each state in its analysis. The cities were evaluated across three categories: emotional and physical well-being, income and employment, and community and environment.

Four cities from Nevada made WalletHub’s list. Reno was the other, named the happiest in Nevada at 88th on the list. In 2017, Nevada was ranked as the 37th happiest state in the U.S., according to WalletHub. (Happiest state rankings for 2017 https://wallethub.com/edu/happiest-states/6959/)

Henderson was ranked 131st for emotional and physical well being, 137th for income, and 25th for community and environment. North Las Vegas was ranked 162nd in both emotional and physical well being and income, and was ranked 40th in community and environment. Las Vegas was ranked 155th in physical and emotional well being, 156th in income, and 123rd in community and environment.

The three categories were evaluated across 28 metrics using data from government and private agencies. (You can read more about the methodology here.)

According to WalletHub, the 10 happiest cities in the U.S. are:

1. Fremont, California
2. Bismarck, North Dakota
3. San Jose, California
4. Pearl City, Hawaii
5. Plano, Texas
6. Fargo, North Dakota
7. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
8. Irvine, California
9. Huntington Beach, California
10. Grand Prairie, Texas

The WalletHub ranking also lists the most glum cities. They are:

1. Detroit, Michigan
2. Birmingham, Alabama
3. Huntington, West Virginia
4. Gulfport, Mississippi
5. Little Rock, Arkansas
6. Charleston, West Virginia
7. Wilmington, Delaware
8. Mobile, Alabama
9. Columbus, Georgia
10. Cleveland, Ohio

WalletHub asked a panel of experts to explain why where a person lives has such an influence on happiness. Here’s what one expert had to say:

“This comes down to a person’s interests and values,” writes Sarah Collins, director of the college to career center at Doane University in Nebraska. “If you love spending time outdoors, then living in a place with a temperate climate could make you happier, as it would allow you to fulfill this interest more often. If family is very important to you, then being close to them, wherever they are, might make you happier.”

You can see the full rankings here.

Image via David Allen/Patch