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Pearl City ranks as fourth-happiest city in the U.S.

STAR-ADVERTISER / MAY 2010

The Pearl City sign off Moanalua Road. Pearl City is the fourth-happiest city in the U.S., according to a WalletHub study released today in honor of the upcoming International Day of Happiness on March 20.

Pearl City is the fourth happiest city in the U.S., according to a WalletHub study released today in honor of the upcoming International Day of Happiness on March 20.

WalletHub, a Washington D.C.-based personal finance website, compared more than 180 of the largest U.S. cities across three key dimensions including emotional & physical well-being, income & employment and community & environment. The cities were evaluated using 28 key indicators, ranging from weather to income growth rate, depression rate and average leisure time spent per day.

Pearl City on Oahu scored 75.19 points, ranking second in emotional and physical well being as well as in community and environment. Pearl City ranked 57th, or in the top third, for income and employment rank. Honolulu tied Newark, New Jersey for 171st place for lowest adequate sleep rate. Overall, Honolulu ranked No. 26.

Pearl City was beat out by San Jose, Calif. (No. 3), Bismarck, North Dakota (No. 2) and Fremont, Calif. (No. 1). Detroit, Mich., ranked last out of the 182 cities, with a score of 28.65.

Fremont, ranked the happiest city in the U.S., has the lowest separation and divorce rate. Pearl City ranked fifth lowest in separation and divorce rate.

Location plays a key role in happiness, according to WalletHub, which gave double weight to indicators including adequate sleep, depression and income growth rates. Factors such as food insecurity and share of people age 12 or older who used marijuana in the past month were also considered.

One of the study’s key findings was that people who make $75,000 a year won’t get any higher satisfaction from more money.

Data was pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The Trust for Public Land.

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