Minneapolis Voted Happiest City in the World

The London-based Institute for Quality of Life recently released its 2024 Happy City Index, a ranking of the world’s happiest places. It found that Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the happiest city in the United States and the only U.S. city to earn a coveted “Gold” ranking, alongside cities in Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and Canada.

The Institute for Quality of Life, a project by Happy City Hub, studies issues related to the well-being of community members. That includes residents, workers, parents, children, students, seniors, and others. Analysis of community-impacted decision-making—such as the creation of social policies and implementation of public services - factors heavily into its research, as do the ways in which cities react to various crises and challenges.

Thirty-seven global cities earned “Gold” rankings in the 2024 Happy City Index. Minneapolis stood out in a sea of mostly European and Scandinavian winners, including Zurich, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Vienna, and Stockholm - the highest marks were given to the city of Aarhus, the second-largest city in Denmark, situated on the country’s eastern coast. The “Silver” and “Bronze” rankings saw a much greater number of U.S. cities, including Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh, Portland, Oregon, and fellow Midwesterners Rochester, Minnesota, and Madison, Wisconsin.

There is no one-size-fits-all key to happiness, of course - which the Institute for Quality of Life is quick to acknowledge. “The concept of a high quality of life is extremely subjective, conditioned by the history, tradition, religion, or geopolitical location of the country in which a person lives,” it noted in its methodology report.

Cities were analysed on the basis of five key categories of happiness—citizens, governance, environment, economy, and mobility—as well as 24 areas of activity, touching on everything from social inclusivity and access to cultural resources to smart public transportation and the planning and expansion of green spaces.