One of the Happiest Cities in the U.S.? It’s Right Here in Maine

The latest happiness report is out, and Portland has passed with flying colors. The Forest City just keeps winning.

Wallethub.com, a personal finance website, recently published its annual report on the happiest cities in America, and Maine’s largest city ranked surprisingly high.

How Happy of a Place is Portland, Maine?

Portland came in as the 24th happiest city in the nation—and the 4th happiest in all of New England. That’s quite an achievement for our little city. Apparently, happy things do come in small packages.

The study included the two largest cities in each state, along with the 150 most populous cities in the country. Portland earned a happiness score of 61.22 on a 100-point scale.

The ranking was based on three major categories: Emotional & Physical Well-Being, Income & Employment, and Community & Environment. These were further divided into 29 subcategories to provide a detailed analysis. You can read more about the methodology [here].

Two of Portland’s category rankings placed in the top 30. The city’s lowest score came in Community & Environment, where it ranked 94th. While lower than the others, it didn’t significantly affect Portland’s overall happiness score. Still, this is an area the city could certainly improve on.

Portland’s second-best ranking was in Emotional & Physical Well-Being, where it placed 30th. It’s reassuring to know that Portlanders are feeling good and doing well—especially compared to much of the country. And why not? It’s a great city to live and work in.

Where Portland truly shined was in Income & Employment, ranking 6th in the nation. This category included metrics such as job security, job satisfaction, and commute time. It’s no surprise to see Portland score so highly here.

Interestingly, it wasn’t the highest-ranked Maine city in this category. That distinction went to Lewiston, which finished as the number two city in America for Income & Employment. However, Lewiston ranked just 137th overall when all metrics were combined.

READ MORE: Popular Portland Neighborhood Named Best in Maine for Foodies

Obviously, it’s great to see Portland finish so strongly in this poll, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us here. Portland is a wonderful city, full of life, culture, delicious food, and vibrancy. It’s easily walkable, bike-friendly, and virtually traffic-free. Small cities just know how to do it better.

What are the Happiest Cities in New England?

So, how did the rest of New England score? Here are the results.

South Burlington, VT - 19
Burlington, VT - 23
Nashua, NH - 21
Boston, MA - 45
Manchester, NH - 47
Warwick, RI - 62
Worcester, MA - 84
Providence, RI - 90
Bridgeport, CT - 91
New Haven, CT - 97
Lewiston, ME - 137

WalletHub’s happiest city was Fremont, CA, followed by San Jose, CA, and Irvine, CA. The most miserable city on the list? The fine hamlet of Cleveland. Hey, at least it has the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

You can check out the entire list here.