We have blogged how WalletHub rated the city of Fremont as the “happiest” in the United States. In a recent update to their rankings, WalletHub’s top three “happiest” US Cities are Asian American: Fremont, San Jose, and Irvine. What do these cities have in common other than being in California? All three are Asian Ethnoburbs with either an Asian American majority or plurality.
I can easily see Fremont at the top. It is a well-to-do city with plenty of parks. Irvine was not unexpected either. It is a university town with a well-off Asian American population. San Jose (where I live) was the real surprise to me. The city has a wide disparity in incomes among residents and a major homelessness problem. I don’t see it being that happy.
I mentioned these rankings to The Daughter, and she asked me what were WalletHub’s criteria. When I said that low divorce rates were a major factor for all three cities, she pointed out that low divorce rates do not necessarily reflect happiness. Many Asian families have a taboo against divorce. We know married couples who are desperately unhappy in their marriages but refuse to get divorced. You can see this also in the Didi movie, which is based in Fremont.
Another factor that WalletHub uses is the percentage of households making more than $75K. All three of the the top cities have a high cost of living. $75K doesn’t go very far in these cities compared to other parts of the US, so it might not be such a great metric for happiness without some kind of indexing.
It will be interesting to see what WalletHub’s next update will show, especially to see if tariffs and anti-Chinese sentiment takes a toll. Meanwhile, I will try to be happy living in one of the US’s “happiest” cities.
