What is going on everyone? Welcome back to the world according to Briggs are you
happy are you trying to squeak out a little happiness in this dumpster fire
of a year called 2020 it just keeps getting weirder every single week I'm
waiting for them to find out Bigfoot is actually Jimmy Hoffa that he's been
hiding out as Bigfoot all these years at this point that wouldn't even surprise
me today I thought we could maybe take our minds off all the garbage and take a
look at some cities where you would have a better chance of being happy
some people believe happiness is a personal thing only you can make
yourself happy to a degree that's correct but your surroundings and
medication can help also there's been many studies on which country which
state which cities have the happiest population there are buttload of metrics
you can use to figure this out some studies use whether income cost living
depression stats poverty rates other studies include civic engagement sleep
statistics divorce rate and life expectancy these studies have been done
by organizations like national Geographics websites like wallet hub
Forbes Business Insider and the US Census Bureau to name a few and I've
read all of those studies and a bunch more I also watched a documentary on
Netflix about happiness called happy and it got me interested in the subject of
happiness I looked at all those studies and came up with a list of the places I
think you have the best chance of being happy let's take a look
number 10 Overland Park Kansas a lot of things can be said about Kansas and
being a bad place live isn't one of them if you enjoy a more laid-back and quiet
lifestyle this place is for you Overland Park is a suburb of Kansas City Kansas
and is often listed as one of the best places to raise a family in the country
a lot of reasons for this for starters the average household
income in Overland Park is about a hundred eleven thousand dollars a year
and the poverty rates barely 5% the rent in recent years has been around $1,100 a
month and you can get a nice home for between 250 and 350 thousand anything
under 200,000 is gonna need some work so let's see you get paid well and the cost
of living is really low no wonder they're happy but the hat
penis keeps going they have very little crime in good schools it's not just for
families either the median age in Overland Park is thirty seven point
seven years that's thirty five point eight years for males and thirty nine
point six for females for every one hundred women living in Overland Park
there's ninety five point one men so you have a slightly better chance of being
happy here if you're a man the only real knock on this city is it
might be considered boring to a lot of people but other than that this place is
a killer place to live it's almost like you have no choice of being happy I was
there one time and I sent my drone up in a park and a cop pulled up I thought
great he's gonna give me a ticket take my drone all he said to me was hey
there's some houses over there don't get too close I don't want to get any calls
problem solved number nine Scottsdale Arizona with a population of two hundred
and sixty-two thousand people it is the fifth largest city in Arizona and the
eighty third largest city in the United States things are good in Scottsdale
Arizona and it shows people are moving here too good clip Scottsdale is
currently growing at a rate of one point four percent annually and it's
population has increased by twenty percent since the most recent census
back in 2010 the average household income in Scottsdale is right around one
hundred and thirty thousand dollars a year it is a little expensive to buy a
home here but condos are everywhere and they can run anywhere from 200,000 to
300,000 most of them have pools which is great for making people happy they have
jobs low crime and relatively low number of people on antidepressants that's
always good news their divorce rate is really low too it may have a high cost
of living but it is about the only real knock on Scottsdale plenty of outdoor
activities just wear sunscreen and be prepared to eat good tacos which make
people very happy also number eight Bismarck North Dakota Bismarck North
Dakota has a population of 74 thousand people which makes it the second largest
city in North Dakota after Fargo so that tells you right there
this place doesn't have a lot of people living in Bismarck is a good thing it is
a small city that really has a small-town vibe and most the residents
on there at home when more people own their own home they
tend to enjoy the place they tend to take care of the place because they have
a vested interest in the city they very much have that whole thing in Bismark
decent homes go for around 300,000 and the cost of living is low combined that
with good employment numbers makes people very happy to live here Bismarck
is also considered one of the more friendly cities in the country which is
a good sign people are happy people in New Jersey
are not happy they're rude anyway there are a lot of coffee shops here in parks
many families and young professionals called Bismarck home residents tend to
stay here for a very long time not a lot of people move out of here which is
another good sign people are happy with the city the public schools in Bismarck
are well above average the summers are amazing you just have to deal with cold
winters if you're like me that's a positive they also got a really low
divorce rate number 7 San Jose California San Jose is a city located in
Santa Clara County California and is part of Silicon Valley with a population
of just over a million residents it is the third largest city in California
behind Los Angeles and San Diego and the tenth largest city in the United States
had no idea most people have no idea San Jose is actually that big most people
not from the area think San Francisco is like twice as big as San Jose even if
they know about San Jose but no M Francisco's actually the fourth largest
city in California with 800,000 residents so why are San Jose residents
so happy for starters they get about 300 days of sunshine yeah that'll keep you
happy they have tons of outdoor activities good public schools
considered a great place to raise a family great place for singles and some
of the highest paying jobs in the country two downsides has a really high
cost of living and the traffic is really bad I hit an old Netflix coworker up on
Facebook and asked him why he thinks everyone in San Jose is so happy he
lives there now he said a lot of the residents are IT workers from India and
Pakistan I said okay why are they so happy he said if you saw where some of
these people live before coming to America you'd understand
so I think I understand
number six Anchorage Alaska Anchorage has too many things going on for the
people not to be happy with five national parks nearby and plenty of
daylight during summer there's a lot to love about this city the thing that gets
Anchorage on this list seems to be the health of the residents the outdoor
lifestyle and the civic engagement I told you that's a big one for a lot of
those studies civic engagement there's plenty of civics to be engaged in here
throughout the summer months your calendar is filled with all kinds of
festivals Alaskans love their festivals and there are more in Anchorage than you
can attend in a single year including various Brewfest a couple Film Festival
and of course the can't misc Alaskan State Fair even the winter months are
filled with festivals including the granddaddy of them all the Iditarod race
that's the sled dog thing you know they take off across the frozen tundra racing
their dogs yeah it's pretty interesting never been to it but it looks really
interesting looks like a lot of fun not the actual racing of the dogs but just
being there to watch it number five Fargo North Dakota
Fargo North Dakota is a great place for people who don't like crowds traffic
waiting for coffee or off-the-chain nightclubs the population is only 129
thousand residents and it is the largest city in North Dakota and the 217th
largest city in the United States like I said not many crowds there are more
things to do here than in Bismarck but they're very similar they have all the
things you need in big city in a small city format this is a great city for
families low cost of living good schools healthy lifestyle and tons of outdoor
activities like Bismarck it can get cold but the summers are great so it almost
makes up for it this is a family type city there's a lot of good people in
Fargo and it's easy to see why they're so happy they it's another one these
places that they never leave they just live there forever
not a lot of outward migration from the locals you can get a nice livable home
in Fargo for around two hundred thousand two hundred twenty thousand really
really nice homes are three hundred fifty thousand up now here's a stat that
really was good for them most cities have around 20 percent of their
population of being divorced at some point
Fargo's only thirteen percent
number four Huntington Beach California honeyton Beach is a city located in
Orange County California with a population of just over 200
thousand residents and it's a great place to live and be happy I was raised
right up the coast in Redondo Beach and I spent a lot of time in Huntington over
the years and I can tell you people here are always happy they just always seem
happy and they always seem to be blond - I don't know that's all about almost
every girl I knew from down there was blond and tan sort of like the whole
city was typecast or it was a requirement before you move there the
cost of living is high but considering they have one of the best beaches in the
state it's not that expensive the cool thing about this place is the community
the locals in most cases are really friendly and we'll have a drink with you
at any number of the local bars that have been there forever they got all
these weird old bars that have been there for like 50 years
I heard they tore down a really popular one just recently anyway they still have
a bunch left if you visit for a couple days go put your feet in Pacific Ocean I
promise you you'll be happy number three Madison Wisconsin Madison is a city with
a population of about 260,000 and it is the second largest city in Wisconsin
after Milwaukee which is about an hour east that's a good distance to keep
Milwaukee at people are starting to find out about Madison actually they've been
finding out about it for about ten years now it is currently growing at a rate of
1.4 percent annually and its population increased by 13 percent since the last
census in 2010 this is a naturally beautiful city with all the outdoor
activities you'll need all year round it gets cold and snowy but there's still
plenty of things to do Madison State Street is a beautiful downtown Center
that has you know like nice shopping food great pubs it is a college town too
so you know they have to have great pubs Madison's downtown sits on a narrow
strip of land between two lakes and has the Wisconsin State Capitol building
right in the center and it's a beautiful building so why are the residents so
happy here a lot of it has to do with the city itself this is one of the
nicest sand well-maintained cities I've ever visited
Wisconsin is considered the most family orientated state in the
Union and Madison is its capital the whole place is surrounded by water which
affects people's moods positively and they have a bunch of golf courses that
doesn't hurt either the five lakes in the area offer more
than enough mood-altering recreational opportunities such as fishing boating
and staring at a lake while you drink coffee with a little Bailey's in it it
gets cold Madison sometimes you need a little Bailey's and they're not paying
me to say that I wish they were they have 20 miles of hiking trails and
residents can drive a short distance to different ski resorts of course they're
happy here this is a beautiful city you should visit sometime
number two Austin Texas here we have another state capital Austin Texas
Austin is in between San Antonio about an hour so to the south and Dallas about
three hours to the north Waco's in between Dallas and Austin don't stop
there the whole place is filled with a bunch
of dillweeds that wear hats that say stuff like it's beer-thirty someplace
Austin is considered the live music capital of the world and it has a
growing arts community for those of you who love all forms of art you know how
this makes you happy I'm not a big like painting guy I love
music comedy photography but you know paintings and sculptures they don't do
it for me I don't know why but hey everyone's got different tastes it is
also home to the University of Texas campus commonly referred to as UT Austin
Austin is good size city with just under a million residents they have a lot of
people but it sort of feels like a small town to me I've been here more than a
few times and it just has a small-town feel
Portland kinda has the same thing Portland's actually smaller but it
doesn't have as much of that feel that Austin has I'm sure a lot of people feel
that way and it's probably part of the reason they're so happy here great
weather and amazing food scene also helps this is a young people city it was
ranked as the 13th best city for young adults in 2019
I'm sure the killer jobs nightlife and outdoor activities play into that also
Austin is a great city it's one of those places you can just walk around and
enjoy the city I'm not shocked that this is one of the best cities for happiness
and number one Plano Texas look at that back-to-back Texas cities Plano is a
growing city just north of Dallas Texas whoever's running this city knows what
they're doing they've made some great moves in the last decade or so and it
shows in growth and happiness the website in each com has them as the
fourth best city to buy a house in America and the fifth best city to live
in in the u.s. it also has them as the 8th in both public schools and cities to
raise a family so think of you know 300 or so cities in
the United States and these people have 4th 5th and 8th twice if you've watched
my channel for a year too I've brought up Plano before they started stealing
companies from California decade or so ago one of the big ones was Toyota of
America they moved their headquarters from Torrance California which is just
south of Los Angeles to Plano Texas and took thousands of jobs with them a bunch
of my friends moved with Toyota and still live in Plano ten years later
they've all bought homes and they like it there only one hates it but she sort
of hates everything so I really don't consider her opinion to be very valid
but Plano Texas it's definitely one of the happiest cities in the United States
there's a ton to do there this is just a nice city and the people are happy all
right so that is today's list I hope it made you happy anyway don't forget all
the links below if this your first time here and you like what we're doing feel
free to subscribe give the video big thumbs up tell me what you thought about
the video tell me what cities you think are the happiest cities I'd love to hear
it everybody have a great day be nice to each other