This Johnson County city is one of the happiest in the United States, study says

Joseph Hernandez
·1 min read
15

Overland Park residents have a lot to be happy about.

A new study by finance website WalletHub found that the Johnson County city is the second happiest city in the United States.

“Overland Park is the second-happiest city, in part because it has the lowest poverty rate in the country, at just 4.2%,” WalletHub said on its website. “It also has one of the lowest unemployment rates, at 3%, and one of the lowest food insecurity rates. When people are able to provide what they need for their families, their happiness naturally increases.”

The website used three key categories to determine the happiness rankings of the residents of 182 cities:

  • Emotional and physical well-being

  • Income and employment

  • Community and environment

Overland Park ranked 6th in both emotional and physical well-being and community and environment categories, while the city ranked 36th in income and employment. On a scale of 100, Overland Park ranked 69.78, nearly five points behind No. 1 Fremont, California.

The study looked at 29 metrics within the three categories, like the rate of sports participation, depression rate, job satisfaction and security, acres of parkland per 1,000 residents and the separation and divorce rate.

Residents in the Johnson County city have a lot of leisure time each week compared to people in most other cities, which contributes to their happiness, the website said. They also get more sleep than most other cities’ residents, according to the study.

Joining Overland Park and Fremont in the top five were San Jose, California, Madison, Wisconsin and Irvine, California.

Kansas City ranked 128th on the list with a score of 48.39.

Source: WalletHub