Want Happiness? Go West, Young Man

A huge new study has ranked Boulder, Colo., as the happiest, healthiest city in America, and finds Western cities in general are more content than the rest of the country. The new Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index rated 162 cities based on interviews with 353,000 people, who answered questions about their jobs, finances, health, and emotional state. Western cities came out on top, while the South was at the bottom, the pollsters tell USA Today.

People in large cities were generally more optimistic, and reported higher levels of well-being, while people in small cities tended to feel safer and more able to afford housing. Here’s the top of the list:

1. Boulder, Colo.
2. Holland-Grand Haven, Mich.
3. Honolulu, Hawaii
4. Provo-Orem, Utah
5. Santa Rosa, Calif.
6. Santa Barbara, Calif.
7. San Jose, Calif.
8. Washington, DC
9. Ogden, Utah
10. Oxnard, Calif.

Other notable finishes: Boston (28), Seattle (32), Atlanta (37), Dallas (41), Los Angeles (71), Chicago (76), Philadelphia (84), New York (94), Detroit (122)