Overland Park is one of America’s happiest cities, WalletHub says

Good news, Overland Park residents: Your city is among America’s happiest, according to a new study by WalletHub.

Johnson County’s largest city ranked 17th on WalletHub’s list, which orders 150 of the largest U.S. cities from most to least happy. This isn’t the first time WalletHub has shown love to Overland Park: Last year, the financial website awarded the Kansas City suburb the top spot on its list of 2016’s best cities for families.

While working on “2017’s Happiest Places to Live” list, WalletHub’s data team studied 30 key indicators of happiness, including income growth rate, depression rate and average leisure time per day.

Napping must be a habit for many Overland Park residents, because the city ranked No. 1 for highest adequate sleep rate. And apparently being well rested does wonders for relationships, because Overland Park also made the top five for lowest separation and divorce rate.

Kansas City didn’t fare as well — the City of Fountains is No. 80 on WalletHub’s list, so it’s about halfway between “most happy” and “least happy.” At least it’s ahead of Wichita (94), Springfield, Mo. (96) and St. Louis (137). Sorry, Detroiters: At No. 150, the Motor City is the “least happy” on the list. Then again, Detroit is known for being one of America’s greatest comeback cities, so that could change in 2018.

Four of 2017’s top five “happiest” cities are in the Golden State. The No. 1 spot went to Fremont, Calif., a San Francisco Bay community close to Silicon Valley where the average household income is $114,000.

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Overland Park is one of America’s happiest cities, WalletHub says."