This Kansas City suburb was named one of the happiest cities in the U.S. Here’s why

Overland Park is the fifth happiest American city in 2025, according to a WalletHub ranking.

The Kansas suburb has ranked high in the list of 182 cities in the past, coming in second in 2024 and fourth in 2023.

The financial website looked at 29 health, employment and environmental factors with data from January 2025. These included income growth, poverty rate, leisure time and amount of park land.

The Johnson County municipality scored fourth in the highest-weighted category — emotional and physical well being — which looked at the rates of depression, suicide, food insecurity and opioid prescription dispensing, among others. The data comes from government and nonprofit institutions.

Nearby Kansas City was 121 on the list of 182 cities, with Wichita at 132, Springfield at 144 and St. Louis at 163.

Here are 2025’s top 20 happiest cities, according to WalletHub:

1. Fremont, California
2. San Jose, California
3. Irvine, California
4. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
5. Overland Park
6. Lincoln, Nebraska
7. Madison, Wisconsin
8. Scottsdale, Arizona
9. San Francisco
10. Huntington Beach, California
11. Bismarck, North Dakota
12. Omaha, Nebraska
13. Seattle, Washington
14. Charleston, South Carolina
15. San Diego
16. Columbia, Maryland
17. Plano, Texas
18. Honolulu
19. South Burlington, Vermont
20. Garden Grove, California

Have more questions about living in the Kansas City area? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.

Eleanor Nash

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4158

Eleanor Nash is a service journalism reporter at The Star. She covers transportation, local oddities and everything else residents need to know. A Kansas City native and graduate of Wellesley College, she previously worked at The Myrtle Beach Sun News in South Carolina and at KCUR.