The U.S. ranked as the 18th happiest country in the world in 2018, according to the World Happiness Report, released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the U.N. So, which specific counties are making the country the most happy?
To find out, researchers at SmartAsset, a personal financial website, compared U.S. counties across eight factors, including the unemployment rate, poverty rate, affordability ratio, marriage rate, divorce rate, bankruptcy rate, life expectancy, and physical activity rate. No single state or region dominated the top 10, but the nation’s happy places appear diverse geographically.
Carver County, Minn., is the happiest county of all in the U.S. in 2018, according to the study. The area boasts a strong economy with a low unemployment rate of 3.1 percent and a poverty rate of 4.1 percent.
Source: “The Happiest Places in America: 2018 Edition,” SmartAsset (May 21, 2018)
