Recent research reveals that the happiest place on Earth isn’t found in the United States, although several U.S. cities made the list.
As is often the case, Scandinavian cities performed exceptionally well in the latest 2025 Happy City Index.
Copenhagen, Denmark, topped the rankings, followed closely by Zurich, Switzerland, with Singapore, Alfs in Denmark, and Antwerp, Belgium, rounding out the top five.
The rankings considered six factors: citizen satisfaction, governance, environmental quality, economic stability, health, and mobility. Data was gathered from various sources, including interviews with residents of each city.
A total of 200 cities were evaluated, scoring across these categories, and their points were combined to generate overall scores.
Top 10 Happiest Cities
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Singapore, Singapore
- Alfs, Denmark
- Antwerp, Belgium
- Seoul, South Korea
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Taiwan, Taiwan region
- Munich, Germany
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
U.S. City Rankings
- New York City (17)
- Minneapolis (30)
- San Diego (34)
- Washington, D.C. (43)
- Salt Lake City (56)
- Columbus, Ohio (63)
- Los Angeles (70)
- Seattle (80)
- Baltimore (84)
- San Antonio (89)
- Nashville, Tennessee (96)
- Indianapolis, Indiana (112)
- San Jose, California (119)
- Boston (131)
- Portland, Oregon (141)
- Orlando, Florida (176)
- Phoenix (181)
- Houston (198)
