{"id":26272,"date":"2014-02-12T03:03:16","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T11:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/?p=26272"},"modified":"2014-02-12T03:03:16","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T11:03:16","slug":"happiest-mid-sized-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/happiest-mid-sized-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"These Are The 10 Happiest Mid-Sized Cities In America"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Embed Gallery<\/h3>\n<p><textarea style=\"width:600px;height:100px\"><\/br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/top-ten\/happiest-mid-sized-cities\/\">The 10 Happiest Mid-Sized Cities In America<\/a> By Movoto Real Estate<\/textarea><br \/>\nWhat makes you happy? Probably a million different things; some large, some small. Where you live is one of these things\u2013one of the biggest, we reckon. What is it, though, that makes your town a happy place? What about it actually makes people happy? That, dear <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\">Movoto Real Estate<\/a> blog readers, is what\u2019s known as a Big Question (worthy of proper capitalization).<br \/>\nAs it turns out, we\u2019re not alone in wondering such things. In fact, an author by the name of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.creativeclass.com\/richard_florida\">Richard Florida<\/a> delved into this question in his book \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Whos-Your-City-Creative-Important\/dp\/0465018092\">Who\u2019s Your City?<\/a>\u201d. In it, Florida asks the aforementioned question and attempts to answer it using two of our very favorite things: research and data. Intrigued, we decided to put some of what he proposed to the test by using the criteria to rank the happiest mid-sized cities in the country.<br \/>\nAfter figuring out how to translate Florida\u2019s findings into measurable criteria and doing our own research, we concluded that Rochester, MN is America\u2019s \u201chappy place,\u201d at least within a specific population size. In fact, 10 places we researched stood out as particularly happy. They are:<br \/>\n1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/rochester-mn\/\">Rochester, MN<\/a><br \/>\n2. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/arvada-co\/\">Arvada, CO<\/a><br \/>\n3. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/naperville-il\/\">Naperville, IL<\/a><br \/>\n4. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/cary-nc\/\">Cary, NC<\/a><br \/>\n5. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/richardson-tx\/\">Richardson, TX<\/a><br \/>\n6. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/olathe-ks\/\">Olathe, KS<\/a><br \/>\n7. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/overland-park-ks\/\">Overland Park, KS<\/a><br \/>\n8. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/bellevue-wa\/\">Bellevue, WA<\/a><br \/>\n9. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/thousand-oaks-ca\/\">Thousand Oaks, CA<\/a><br \/>\n10. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/mckinney-tx\/\">McKinney, TX<\/a><br \/>\nWhat make Rochester rock when it comes to inducing happy thoughts? Should Thousand Oaks really be renamed \u201cThousand Smiles?\u201d \u00a0Queue up your laugh track because we\u2019re about to tell you. First up, however, is our methodology.<\/p>\n<h2>How To Measure A City\u2019s Happiness<\/h2>\n<p>In his book, Richard Florida discusses his conclusions following research into what makes cities happy places, having looked at common sense ideas like \u201cthe more money people make, the happier they are\u201d and less common concepts such as correlations between marital status and happiness. Piggybacking on his research, we were able to adapt it into the following seven criteria, one of which is actually comprised of three sub-factors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stress factors (high unemployment, long commutes, high cost of living)<\/li>\n<li>Personal safety (violent crimes)<\/li>\n<li>Residents making greater than $25,000\/year<\/li>\n<li>Married residents<\/li>\n<li>Home ownership<\/li>\n<li>Residents with a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher<\/li>\n<li>Convenience of amenities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In his research, Florida found that only 43 percent of people making less than $25,000 a year reported being happy with their city. On the other hand, 69 percent of married residents and 73 percent of residents with a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher reported they were. So, using data from the U.S. Census, we were able to focus in on those groups within each city and measure how much of the population they comprised.<br \/>\nThe particular stress factors we looked at were also found to correlate to a city\u2019s happiness, as were higher home ownership, personal safety, and convenience in the sense of amenities being easily accessible, which is where the website WalkScore.com came in.<br \/>\nWe applied these criteria to 200 mid-sized cities, which we defined as those ranked 101 through 300 in terms of population size in the U.S. according to the Census Bureau. Each city was given a score of one to 200 in the individual criteria, with one being the best, after which we averaged these scores into one aggregate, which we call our Big Deal Score. The lowest aggregate score was crowned the winner, in this case Rochester, MN.<br \/>\nIf you\u2019re interested in knowing how each of our top 10 cities fared across the seven criteria, we\u2019d be happy to tell you. If you don\u2019t see your city in the top 10, there\u2019s still a chance it made our top 50, which you can find at the end of this article. Now, onto the absolute happiest habitats in the nation.<\/p>\n<h2>1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/rochester-mn\/\">Rochester, MN<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/1.jpg\" alt=\"Rochester, MN\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: Olive Juice Studio<\/div>\n<p>Are you smiling as you read this? Then chances are you live in our happiest mid-sized city, Rochester (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/mn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minnesota<\/a>, not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/ny\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York<\/a>. According to our findings, Rochester made it to the top of our list thanks to its relatively stress-free living.<br \/>\nRochester ranked 13th overall in terms of having low stress factors, which translates into a cost of living 4 percent below the national average, a commute time of just seven minutes on average, and a low 4.3 unemployment rate.<br \/>\nIn terms of demographic reasons to be happy, only 17 percent of Rochester residents make less than $25,000 per year and 55 percent of the people who live there are married (so there are plenty of smiling couples there).<\/p>\n<h2>2. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/arvada-co\/\">Arvada, CO<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/2.jpg\" alt=\"Arvada, CO\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: Flickr user <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dighazuse\/\">DigHazuse<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Convenience is key to Arvada\u2019s happiness. With a walk score of 85, this town, located outside of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/denver-co\/\">Denver, CO<\/a>, is the fifth most convenient overall and has the most accessible amenities of any place in our top 10.<br \/>\nArvada also solicits smiles from residents with its high marks in safety (18th overall) and home ownership (70 percent are owner-occupied, placing it 10th overall for that criterion). Its residents could be more stress-free, however; the city ranked 99th for low stress factors, with a cost of living just one percent shy of the national average, a 29-minute average commute, and 7.3 percent unemployment rate.<\/p>\n<h2>3. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/naperville-il\/\">Naperville, IL<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/3.jpg\" alt=\"Naperville, IL\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: Flickr user <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/akeg\/\">akeg<\/a><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s been said that money can\u2019t buy happiness. The residents of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/naperville-il\/photos-of-naperville\/\">Naperville<\/a> might disagree with that statement. Not only did the city post a second-placed ranking in terms of income with only 6 percent of households making less than $25,000 a year, but the city has a median household income of $101,911, nearly twice the national average.<br \/>\nNaperville also did extremely well when it came to safety, tying for first place overall with the next city we\u2019re going to talk about, Cary, NC, having just 79 violent crimes in 2012 per 100,000 residents.<\/p>\n<h2>4. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/cary-nc\/\">Cary, NC<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/4.jpg\" alt=\"Cary, NC\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: Flickr user Dougtone<\/div>\n<p>Cary just recently appeared on our ranking of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/top-ten\/safest-mid-sized-cities-in-america\/\">safest mid-sized cities in America<\/a>, so it\u2019s of little (or no) surprise the city did exceptionally well when it comes to safety. As we said above, Cary shares its first-place ranking in safety with Naperville at just 79 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.<br \/>\nAre there other reasons for Cary residents to do the happy dance? You bet. This city placed fourth overall in terms of income, with only 8 percent of its population making a median household income of less than $25,000 annually. It also made the single-digit rankings overall for education, with 64 percent of its residents sporting a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher.<br \/>\nAll this is great and all, but what kept the great city from cracking the top three? Convenience. Cary was ranked 177th overall in this category with a walk score of just 25 out of 100. In other words, this is a driving city.<\/p>\n<h2>5. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/richardson-tx\/\">Richardson, TX<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/5.jpg\" alt=\"Richardson, TX\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: City of Richardson<\/div>\n<p>Everything, they say, is bigger in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/tx\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas<\/a>. We assume that also goes for the smiles, and in Richardson they must be grinning from ear to ear right about now. Home to the University of Texas, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/dallas-tx\/\">Dallas<\/a> suburb has clearly retained a well-educated populace, as it placed 19th overall for attainment of a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher with 50 percent of its residents holding that distinction.<br \/>\nIts residents must have also learned that crime doesn\u2019t pay, as the city ranked 28th overall for personal safety reporting just 171 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.<br \/>\nLast, but not least, in terms of convenience, Richardson was second-best out of our top 10 cities, but still a ways behind Arvada with a walk score of 40, earning it a spot at 88th overall for easily accessible amenities.<\/p>\n<h2>6. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/olathe-ks\/\">Olathe, KS<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/6.jpg\" alt=\"Olathe, KS\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: Flickr user <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/davidreber\/\">David Reber&#8217;s Hammer Photography<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Olathe proves that they don\u2019t just grow corn in Kansas\u2013they grow happiness. Olathe in particular seems to grow wealth and relationships, as the city placed 11th and 17th overall for income above $25,000 and percentage of married residents, respectively.<br \/>\nFor the former criterion, a mere 10 percent of households make less than our \u201chappy threshold\u201d of median income annually, while for the latter a full 59 percent of people there live in holy (and hopefully happy) matrimony.<br \/>\nNonetheless, things drop off when it comes to education and personal safety, but only slightly. With 178 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, Olathe managed a 30th-place finish for our safety criterion, and an even 45 percent of folks there have at least a bachelor\u2019s degree, which resulted in a 25th-place ranking for education.<\/p>\n<h2>7. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/overland-park-ks\/\">Overland Park, KS<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/7.jpg\" alt=\"Overland Park, KS\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: Flickr user periwinklekog<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/ks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kansas<\/a> is known as \u201cThe Sunflower State,\u201d but in the case of Overland Park, it would seem that money grows on trees. Well, there\u2019s at least enough of it to go around that only 9 percent of households there make less than $25,000 a year, a figure good enough to earn Overland Park eighth place in our income category overall.<br \/>\nIn what other areas did Overland overachieve? Education and safety. \u00a0About 57 percent of the city\u2019s residents hold at least a bachelor\u2019s degree, for which Overland Park placed 12th in education. As for safety, Overland placed 25th overall when compared to all the cities on our list.<\/p>\n<h2>8. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/bellevue-wa\/\">Bellevue, WA<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/8.jpg\" alt=\"Bellvue, WA\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: Flickr user <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/anupamsrivastava\/\">Anupam_ts<\/a><\/div>\n<p>The Carpenters once sang \u201crainy days and Mondays always get me down,\u201d and you\u2019d think that, at least in terms of sogginess, a city in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/wa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Washington<\/a> would have to rate as pretty depressing by \u201870s songwriter standards. As it turns out, though, Bellevue would put a smile on Karen\u2019s face\u2013rain or shine.<br \/>\nEducation and safety were the two biggest bright spots when we looked at this Pacific Northwest town. That\u2019s because 62 percent of its residents hold at least a bachelor\u2019s degree, placing it at sixth overall in that regard, and with just 113 violent crimes per 100,000 residents it earned 10th place for personal safety.<\/p>\n<h2>9. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/thousand-oaks-ca\/\">Thousand Oaks, CA<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/9.jpg\" alt=\"Thousand Oaks, CA\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: City of Thousand Oaks<\/div>\n<p>Like Cary, NC, Thousand Oaks was also named one of our safest mid-sized cities recently, but that\u2019s not the only reason its residents are smiling. In addition to that distinction, which earned it an eighth-place finish on this list in terms of safety, it also placed sixth overall for income (with 9 percent of households making under $25,000 a year) and ninth overall for home ownership (more than 70 percent of its houses are owner-occupied).<br \/>\nAs Californians, we can tell you that stress factors are sometimes high here, so we weren\u2019t really surprised by Thousand Oak\u2019s 133rd-place finish there. In fact, the city was nearly the worst (194th) when it came to cost of living, where it stands at 43 points above the national average. Then, despite being part of the endless Southern Californian sprawl, it placed 140th for convenience, with a walk score of 32 out of 100.<\/p>\n<h2>10. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/mckinney-tx\/\">McKinney, TX<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/movotoblog\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized\/images\/10.jpg\" alt=\"McKinney, TX\" style=\"width:600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"source\">Source: Flickr user USDAgov<\/div>\n<p>We end our tour of America\u2019s happiest mid-sized cities in the Lone Star State, where smiles certainly aren\u2019t an endangered species\u2013especially not in McKinney. Maybe it has something to do with all that wedded bliss in the air? That wouldn\u2019t be surprising considering more people in McKinney are married than in any other place on our top 10 list: 63 percent, resulting in an eighth place overall rank for marriage.<br \/>\nWhen it comes to our other happiness factors, McKinney did well overall. It placed 15th for income with 10 percent of its households making below $25,000 annually. It was 21st for home ownership (66 percent of its houses are owner-occupied), 24th for education (46 percent of its people have at least a bachelor\u2019s degree), and 32nd for safety.<br \/>\nWhere did McKinney falter? It placed 60th for stress factors, a number we attribute largely to its 30-minute average commute and cost of living just six percent below the national average. Finally, McKinney residents aren\u2019t getting around on foot. The city has a WalkScore of 23, giving it a rank of 187 for this criterion.<\/p>\n<h2>Shiny Happy People<\/h2>\n<p>We can\u2019t blame you for wearing a grin if you live in any of these places; just don\u2019t let it turn to a smug one when we tell you about the places where there are plenty of frowns to go around. Based on our research and criteria, it turns out that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/hartford-ct\/\">Hartford, CT<\/a> is the unhappiest mid-sized city in the nation, placing dead last for marriage and home ownership.<br \/>\nIf you\u2019re looking for suggestions on what to do better, Hartford, there\u2019s no one better to ask than the people of Rochester, MN\u2013their town might have just what you need to turn your frown upside-down.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/sites\/2\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized-table.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(click to enlarge table)<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/sites\/2\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized-table.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Happiest Mid-Sized Cities In America\" src=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/sites\/2\/2014\/02\/happiest-mid-sized-table.png\" title=\"The 10 Happiest Mid-Sized Cities In America\" style=\"width:100%\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<b>Like This Post? You\u2019ll Definitely Love These:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/top-ten\/most-attractive-mid-sized-cities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">These Are The Most Physically Attractive Mid-Sized Cities In America<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/top-ten\/best-mid-sized-cities-for-education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">These Are The 10 Best Mid-Sized Cities for Education In America<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/top-ten\/snobbiest-mid-sized-cities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">These Are The 10 Snobbiest Mid-Sized Cities In America<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed Gallery The 10 Happiest Mid-Sized Cities In America By Movoto Real Estate What makes you happy? Probably a million different things; some large, some small. Where you live is one of these things\u2013one of the biggest, we reckon. What is it, though, that makes your town a happy place? What about it actually makes people happy? That, dear Movoto Real Estate blog readers, is what\u2019s known as a Big Question (worthy of proper capitalization). As it turns out, we\u2019re not alone in wondering such things. In fact, an author by the name of Richard Florida delved into this question [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-places","post--single"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>These Are The 10 Happiest Mid-Sized Cities In America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do you measure a city\u2019s happiness? 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