Oklahoma City made the list of the top 182 happiest cities in America.
WalletHub, a service for credit scores, annually ranks the cities in America based on happiness of their residents. According to their website, the resource used positive-psychology research to determine which cities had the happiest people in them.
Oklahoma City was ranked 128th.
The website categorized 182 of America’s most populated cities. This is the third year Oklahoma City has placed 128th.
WalletHub uses multiple sources to create the yearly list, including U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mental Health Services Administration and more.
Topping the list this year was Plano, Texas. The position was previously occupied by Fremont, California.
The list was created based on multiple factors: depression, sleep, sports participation, suicide, work hours, income, and divorce. All of these subjects were compressed into three categories: emotional and physical well-being, income and employment and community and environment.
Vladia Cortest, marketing sophomore, is a resident of Norman, Oklahoma. Cortest said she would like to see more about how the website came to decide the ranking system.
“I guess that’s actually kind of surprising to me because Oklahoma City is so big and spread out,” Cortest said. “I can see how people living downtown in good areas would be happy. I just have a strong love for Oklahoma as a whole, not just the city.”
Viviana Goodwin, music theater/vocal performance sophomore, is also a resident of Oklahoma.
“Having grown up in this area, I didn’t see it a lot as a kid. But the simplicity of Oklahoma City is what makes it happy,” Goodwin said.
Yuki Mise, ELS freshman, said the sights in Oklahoma makes her happy.
“I like the nature,” Mise said. “There’s little countryside, but Oklahoma has a lot of nature. I went to Memorial Park, and it was beautiful.”
Nathan May, music theater sophomore, is a resident of Texas. May said Oklahoma City offers a happy ambience.
“I haven’t been to too many cities in my time, but of the ones I’ve been to, I’ve had a pretty nice time here,” May said. “There’s lots of really nice people, lots of really cute houses and shops and restaurants. I think it’s pretty happy, and I’m pretty happy here.”
Janki Patel, third year law student, said multiple things go into making her happy in Oklahoma City.
“If I’m going to be dead honest? The food,” Patel said. “But, when I came here two years ago, there was nothing. A lot has expanded as well, like Scissortail Park. Oklahoma City is rapidly growing, and there’s more to be happy about now than two years ago.”
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