Cary is the happiest city in North Carolina, and one of the happiest in the whole country, according to a recent survey by Zippia.com.
“Cary may only be the 7th-largest city in North Carolina, but is number one in happiness,” writes Kathy Morris, in a post on the website.
Zippia, a resource for job-seekers, analyzed income, marriage rates, education, and other metrics in more than 600 cities to determine which locales have the most to smile about.
Cary’s statistics include 64% of households earn $75,000 or more, the average commute is 23 minutes, and roughly 57% of residents are married.
The website listed the happiest U.S. cities as:
- Bloomington, Ill.
- Olathe, Kan.
- Rochester, Minn.
- Cary, N.C.
- Appleton, Wisc.
- Highlands Ranch, Colo.
- Bismarck, N.D.
- Richardson, Texas
- Redmond, Wash.
- Chandler, Ariz.
To come up with the list, Zippia looked at data from the most recent American Community Survey, performed by the Census Bureau. While happiness is an uncertain measurement, the authors of the report settled on the following bits of information:
- Being well educated (Population with at least a bachelor’s degree)
- Percent of households earning above $75,000
- Median home prices
- A short commute to work (Traffic = unhappiness)
- Having a family (Getting, and staying married, has a ton of happiness benefits, on average)
“It is worth noting that marriage doesn’t cause happiness,” Morris writes. “However, a happy marriage and positive social interactions are important for mood and mental health.”
She further explains that Zippia used the $75,000 income as a benchmark because of a study from Princeton University. Published in 2010, it reports that day-to-day emotional well-being improves as income rises but levels off at the $75,000 mark.
For more information about the survey and the other cities on Zippia’s list, see zippia.com/advice/happiest-city-each-state/.
