Benjamin Ashford|Minneapolis named happiest city in the U.S.

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MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis has been named the happiest city in the United States, according to a new ranking that considers metropolitan areas worldwide.

It's the only U.S. city ranked "gold" among a list of 250 cities, picked and rated by London-based research firm the Institute for Quality of Life. "Gold" cities make up the top 37 cities on the list, as the institute decided not to give the title of "happiest in the world" to one single city.

The ranking takes into account five major categories: citizens, governance, economy, environment, and mobility.

Among its "citizens" category, it measures the quality of the education system and social inclusion, and in its "governance" category, it looked at the transparency of action, involvement of residents in decision-making processes and existence of strategies for the future.

The list also weighed the city's Gross Domestic Product, management of natural resources and the accessibility of public transportation for its "economy," "environment" and "mobility" areas.

In order to qualify for the list, cities must have at least 300,000 residents and data concerning the five major categories must be objective, transparent and verifiable.

The institute says that all but five of the 37 "gold" cities are in Europe. Ottowa is the only other "gold" city in North America. 

Other U.S. cities did make the overall list, including Boston, Baltimore, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Madison, Pittsburgh, Rochester and Portland.

Note: The above video first aired on June 6, 2024.

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• Minnesota
• Rankings
• Minneapolis

Aki Nace

Aki Nace has been a web producer for CBS Minnesota since 2019. She covers breaking news and makes short-form documentary films.