A new ranking of the 250 happiest metropolitan areas in the world has been released, and only one city in the United States is vibing enough to reach gold-level status.
London-based research firm Institute for Quality of Life recently released its annual Happy City Index, ranking the general happiness levels of residents in cities around the world.
The ranking utilizes five factors that researchers say are "the most important areas defining urban activities that have a direct impact on happiness," including: citizens, governance, environment, economy and mobility. For any city to make the index, it must have at least 300,000 residents.
The ranking includes 250 cities from around the globe, but instead of giving the title of "happiest in the world" to just one city, the institute separated cities into three categories. "Gold" cities make up the top 37 cities on the list, followed by 63 "silver" cities and 150 "bronze" cities.
"One size does not fit it all. We believe it is not possible to fairly well identify a single city that should be considered the best in terms of ensuring the happiness of its inhabitants," the ranking noted. "It is most appropriate to establish a group of cities committed to happiness cultivation and growth, where education, inclusive policies, economy, mobility, environmental protection, access to green areas or innovation are not only important components of the official policies created, but are also visible in the implemented solutions, tangible for the residents and have a direct impact on their quality of life."
All told, the list includes 10 U.S. cities. But only one landed among the gold-ranked happiest cities in the world. That title goes to Minneapolis, Minnesota. When the city's happiness score is taken into account, it ranks as the 18th happiest city in the world overall.
Boston, Massachusetts is the second-highest ranked U.S. city on the list, but it wasn't quite happy enough to land in golden territory. Beantown is the highest-ranked silver city on the list, and the 38th happiest in the world. Only two other U.S. cities placed in the silver category: Baltimore, Maryland (#57), and Washington, D.C. (#85).
Five U.S. cities reached bronze level status, including: San Francisco, California (#114); Salt Lake City, Utah (#145); Madison, Wisconsin (#167), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (#190), Rochester, New York, (#214); and Portland, Oregon (#237).
Although it doesn't officially designate just one city as the happiest in the world, the highest scoring city on the list is Aarhus, Denmark. That's followed by Zurich, Switzerland; Berlin, Germany; Gothenburg, Sweden; and Amsterdam, Netherlands rounding out the five cities with the highest scores.