Arlington Residents Rank 2nd Happiest In U.S. Behind CA City: Study

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington residents came close to ranking as the happiest people in the country as they learn to stop worrying and be happy like residents in California.

According to a new data analysis by SmartAsset, Arlington residents ranked No. 2 on the list of happiest in the country, just behind residents of Sunnyvale, California.

“To uncover the happiest places in America, we analyzed the 200 largest cities, 164 of which had available data,” explained SmartAsset, which released its findings this month. “We looked at 13 different metrics across three categories: personal finance, well-being and quality of life.”

Six cities in California made the top 10, followed by three cities in Texas and one in Washington state. Arlington was the only place east of the Mississippi River to make the top 10.

Only two other eastern U.S. cities made the top 25 of happiest places: Raleigh, North Carolina ranked 19th, and Virginia Beach ranked 22nd, according to SmartAsset.

Arlington ranked in the top seven across the three categories measured by SmartAsset, with the county seeing its highest ranking in personal finances. Roughly 48 percent of Arlington’s residents earn $100,000 or more, putting it at No. 5 in the ranking.

Living costs make up less than 35 percent of the median household income in Arlington, ranking No. 6 in the U.S. Arlington also has the lowest rate of personal bankruptcy filings, another measurement used by SmartAsset to measure happiness.

Research shows that in some cases, money does lead to happiness, according to SmartAsset. A 2021 University of Pennsylvania study found a correlation between happiness and income growth, even past an annual income of $80,000. This is in contrast to previous research that found happiness stagnated after an individual earned $75,000.

“However, not all places can offer the same level of happiness, as some cities offer more economic opportunities and a better quality of life than others,” SmartAsset said.

To find the happiest places in the country, SmartAsset analyzed the 200 largest cities (county, in the case of Arlington), 164 of which had available data.

SmartAsset looked at 13 different metrics across personal finance, well-being and quality of life.

Ten cities in California made the top 25. These California cities had lower percentages of people living in poverty, higher marriage rates and lower violent crime rates, according to SmartAsset.

Birmingham, Alabama, ranked as the least happy city in the U.S. The Alabama city ranked in the bottom five across metrics such as personal bankruptcy filings per capita, life expectancy and the percentage of residents living in poverty. Newark, New Jersey, and Memphis followed as the second- and third-least happy cities.

Residents who are married made up the majority of the population in all the cities in the top 10 of the rankings except Arlington, where the marriage rate is 44 percent. Frisco, Texas, which ranks No. 5 overall, has the highest marriage rate study-wide at 62.6 percent, according to SmartAsset.

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