BURSTAccording to new research, the happiest places on earth don't involve the United States — though some U.S. cities did make the list further down.
As is customary, Scandinavian cities scored highly in the 2025 Happy City Index.
Copenhagen, Denmark, was ranked first ahead of Zurich, Switzerland; Singapore; Aarhus, Denmark; and Antwerp, Belgium.
The rankings are based on six criteria: citizens, governance, environment, economy, health and mobility. They involve databases and interviews with people in the respective cities.
Two hundred cities made the list, where they were scored in the six categories, with points tallied to provide an overall score.
Top 10 happiest cities
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Singapore, Singapore
- Aarhus, Denmark
- Antwerp, Belgium
- Seoul, South Korea
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Taipei, Taiwan Region
- Munich, Germany
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
The U.S. cities that made the list
- New York City (17)
- Minneapolis (30)
- San Diego (34)
- Washington (43)
- Salt Lake City (56)
- Columbus, Ohio (63)
- Los Angeles (70)
- Seattle (80)
- Baltimore (84)
- San Antonio (89)
- Nashville, Tenn. (96)
- Indianapolis, Ind. (112)
- San Jose, Calif. (119)
- Boston (131)
- Portland, Ore. (141)
- Orlando, Fla. (176)
- Phoenix (181)
- Houston (198)