Don’t worry, be happy in these 100 cities (Seattle and Tacoma included)

Leisure time, such as visits to the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum (which is scheduled to reopen June 3 after a long pandemic-induced closure), is one of the factors that ranks Tacoma as the 92nd happiest city in the U.S.

Three Washington cities are in the top-100 happiest cities in the United States, an unofficial ranking thatâ€™s led by Fremont, Calif.

To determine where Americans are most content, WalletHub (a consumer and financial services website based in Washington, D.C.) compared 180 of the largest of the approximately 16,000 cities and towns nationwide. WalletHub said 31 â€œkey indicators of happinessâ€ ranged from depression rates to income-growth and the average amount of leisure time per day.

Here in Washington, Seattle ranks highest at 20th. Vancouver is 56th, Tacoma is 92nd, and Spokane is 106th.

Fremont is the happiest of the happy, partly because it has the lowest separation and divorce rates among married couples. Joining Fremont in the top-10 are, in order, two in North Dakota (Bismarck and Fargo), Madison, Wis., San Jose, Calif., South Burlington, Vt., Lincoln, Neb., Columbia, Md., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Santa Rosa, Calif.

For years, researchers have found that ingredientsÂ of happiness include a positive mental state, physical health, strong social connections, job satisfaction, and financial well-being.