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Frisco And Plano Ranked In The Top 10 Happiest Cities In The U.S.

A study looked at 200 cities in the U.S.
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Photo: altafulla | Shutterstock

Frisco and Plano have both ranked in the Top 10 happiest places to live in the United States, according to a new study from SmartAsset Advisors.

To uncover the happiest places in America, SmartAsset analyzed the 200 largest cities, 164 of which had available data. The study measured 13 different metrics across three categories: personal finance, well-being and quality of life. This included statistics like the average commute time, violent crime rates and the percent of adults with health insurance.

The happiest city in the United States is Sunnyvale, CA. The city has the highest percentage of individuals earning $100,000 or more (62.5%), the third-lowest percentage of adults living below the poverty-level (roughly 5%) and the fifth-highest marriage rate (56.8%). Violent crime in the area is also low (No. 9) with roughly 149 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Sunnyvale is followed by Arlington, VA; Bellevue, WA; and Fremont, CA.

Frisco takes the fifth spot by snagging the No. 1 spot for marriage rate (62.6%) and the percentage of residents living below the poverty level (2.5%). Additionally, the city ranks No. 2 for its typical living costs compared to the median household income (29.55%) and its violent crime rate (roughly 86 crimes per 100,000 residents).

Plano, Texas comes in sixth by ranking the top 20 across six metrics, most notably: the city has the fourth-highest marriage rate (56.9%) and the 10th-lowest violent crime rate (roughly 155 for every 100,000 residents). Just over a third of the Plano population earns $100,000 or more and typical cost of living expenses make up 40.43% of the median household income in the Collin County city.

Plano is followed by Roseville, CA; San Jose, CA; Santa Clarita, CA; and Irvine, CA rounds out the Top 10.

Unfortunately with every happy city, there must be an unhappy one. Birmingham, Alabama ranks in the bottom five across metrics such as personal bankruptcy filings per capita, life expectancy and the percentage of residents living in poverty.