Scottsdale rated 8th happiest city in US, 2 other Arizona towns make top 50

PHOENIX — Don’t worry, be happy. Scottsdale residents have plenty of reasons to smile and it’s apparently on notice as the eighth happiest U.S. city, according to a recent study.

WalletHub ranked 182 cities in “Happiest Cities in America (2025),” comparing them across the three categories of emotional and physical well-being, income and employment and community and environment.

Gilbert and Chandler made the top-50 cut at 26th and 40th, respectively. On the other end of happiest spectrum — one could say unhappy or sad — Phoenix came in at 106th and Tucson earned the lowly position of 161st.

Collected data in these categories crowned Fremont, California as the happiest city, and by a significant margin, too. The Californian city had 73.54 points on the 100-point scale, over four points more than the second and third-happiest cities of San Jose, California (69.34) and Irvine, California (69.32). The Golden State didn’t hog all the top spots, as Sioux Falls, South Dakota (68.66) and Overland Park, Kansas (66.93) were ranked fourth and fifth.

Though Fremont was rated a middling 93rd in income and employment, it more than made up for it as the top-ranked city in emotional and physical well-being and fourth-best in community and environment.

How Scottsdale, other Arizona cities performed

Scottsdale was among the most consistent performers across the three major categories, its best a 10th-place ranking in income and employment while exhibiting solid standing in community and environment (15th) and emotional and physical well-being (22nd).

Within the many subcategories, Scottsdale excelled in sports-participation rate (tied-fourth with Fremont) but was dead-last in work hours, meaning its workers average the most weekly hours. Burlington, Vermont, for what it’s worth, boasted the fewest average weekly work hours.

In another recent WalletHub study, Scottsdale was deemed the third-best for credit scores.

Gilbert, the second-happiest Arizona city, notably popped up as the U.S. city with the fifth-lowest separation and divorce rate. It too was a consistent performer in all categories, 38th in community and environment being it worst rating.

As for Phoenix, it struggled mightily in community and environment (128th) with 85th in income and employment as its lone bright(ish) spot.

The Midwest region of the U.S. took home the undesirable bottom-two rankings, as Detroit, Michigan (181st) and Cleveland, Ohio (182nd) had the unfortunate pleasure. Detroit claimed the “highest” rating in any category between the two, earning 159th in community and environment.

How cities were awarded points

WalletHub doled out up to 50 points to cities for emotional and physical well-being, 25 for income and employment and another 25 for community and environment.

Notable subcategories were depression rate, sports-participation rate, food-insecurity rate, income-growth rate, weekly work hours, separation and divorce rate and ideal weather.

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