'Happiest Places in America:' 2 Northern VA Counties

• PHOTO courtesy of Visit Loudoun

Northern Virginia must be doing something right. For the second year in a row, Virginia's Loudoun County comes in at #1 as the "Happiest Place in America," according to a new study that measures such factors as unemployment and poverty rates in counties with populations of 50,000 or more.

Fairfax County bumps up a spot from last year's #3 ranking to #2 in the 2016 study that also looks at marriage rates, income and life expectancy.

Here's what the SmartAsset study says about the two happy counties:

#1 Loudoun County

"Loudoun County is #1 in our study for the second year in a row. What makes this such a happy place? For one thing, the unemployment rate and poverty rate are both under 4%. In fact, Loudoun’s poverty rate is the lowest of any county in our study.

Of the nearly 1,000 counties in our study, Loudoun County had the fourth-highest income ratio. Loudoun’s income ratio is over 2.5, which means the median income is more than twice the cost of living."

#2 Fairfax County

"Next door to Loudoun County is the runner-up in our study, Fairfax County, Virginia. It’s one of just three counties in our study to have a life expectancy over 83 years.

The median income in Fairfax County is high, at $100,584. That’s a little under twice the national median income. The wealthy county also boasts a population that’s greater than that of eight states and the District of Columbia."

Other factors

Other factors in the SmartAsset study included physical activity rate (the percentage of the population getting adequate physical activity each week). The negative factors were each county’s poverty rate, unemployment rate, divorce rate and personal bankruptcy rate.

For positive factors, a higher number was better and for negative factors a lower number was better, according to SmartAsset. Each county was ranked on each of the eight factors, giving each factor equal weight. They then averaged those rankings for each county.

Top 10 "happiest" counties

Here are the other eight counties in the study's top 10:

#3 Carver County, Minnesota

#4 Chester County, Pennsylvania

#5 Hunterdon County, New Jersey

#6 Morris County, New Jersey

#7 Howard County, Maryland

#8 Douglas County, Colorado

#9 Somerset County, New Jersey

#10 Ozaukee County, Wisconsin

Read more about the study at SmartAsset.