Before our Pelion friends get upset, let us make it clear. We love Pelion, It is an outstanding small town. In many ways we wish Lexington had not grown so fast.

At least in Pelion you can go to the grocer’s and see all your friends. Try that in Lexington.

Since we just celebrated International Day of Happiness and to find if money buys happiness, the personal-finance website WalletHub researched 2019’s Happiest Cities in America.

You guessed it, Some of what WalletHub calls happy cities you may not want to live in. We’ve lived in a few and can tell you it was no picnic.

To determine where people in America are most content with their lives, WalletHub compared more than 180 cities on 31 indicators of happiness. The data set ranges from depression rate to income-growth to average leisure time spent each day.

The top 20 Happiest Cities in America, they claim, are Austin, and Grand Prairie, TX, Bismarck and Fargo, ND, Sioux Falls, SD, Fremont, Glendale, Huntington Beach, Irvine, San Jose, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Fremont, CA, Overland Park, KS, Madison, WI, Scottsdale, AZ, St. Paul, MN and Pearl City, HI. Charleston, SC, came in at No. 20. No other town or city in SC made the top 20.

Miami, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines, FL, all have the lowest depression rate, 2.3 times lower than Charleston, WV, with the highest rate.

Boston has the lowest number of suicides per 100,000 residents. That’s 6.9 times lower than in Juneau, Alaska, the city with the highest.

Fremont, CA, has the lowest divorce rate, 15.96%, 3 times lower than Detroit at 47.44%.

Cheyenne, WY, has the lowest commute time, 14.0 minutes, 2.9 times lower than New York, the highest at 40.8 minutes.

We have visited or lived in many of these places and were amazed – and amused – by what WalletHub found.

No matter how bad traffic congestion becomes, we are happy to live here and hope you feel the same way.

– Jerry Bellune

We were amazed – and amused – by the latest research on happiness.