Pembroke Pines ranked among top 50 happiest big cities in the US. Here’s why
.jpg "Researchers found Pembroke Pines to be one of the happiest cities in America, looking at factors such as income, physical health and rates of depression.")
Pembroke Pines has been named one of the happiest big cities in the U.S. and the second happiest in Florida, according to a new WalletHub ranking.
The Broward County city came in at No. 42 out of 182 cities reviewed. Pines ranked just one spot below Cape Coral but 11 spots above Fort Lauderdale.
“WalletHub compared 182 of the largest cities — including the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state — across three key dimensions: 1) Emotional & Physical Well-Being, 2) Income & Employment and 3) Community & Environment,” according to the personal finance and ranking company.
Fremont, California, topped the list, while Detroit came in last.
Researchers determined Pembroke Pines to be the 30th-best city in the emotional and physical wellness category, which considered factors such as life satisfaction, depression and suicide rates, physical health, life expectancy and adequate sleep.
For its part, Pembroke Pines reportedly had one of the lowest depression rates among cities in the study, sharing the top five list with two other South Florida cities: Miami and Hialeah. Those two cities also were No. 1 and No. 3 in income growth, respectively.
Pines also scored relatively well on community and environment, coming in at No. 47 out of 182. The metric is composed of WalletHub’s own “Most Caring Cities” ranking, as well as weather, leisure time, hate crime incidents, divorce rates and access to green areas, among other factors.
But the South Florida city’s overall ranking was pulled down by its 150th place for income and employment, which looked at income growth, poverty levels, unemployment rate, bankruptcy, weekly hours worked and job satisfaction.
Here is how researchers ranked the major Florida cities they assessed:
- Cape Coral, No. 41
- Pembroke Pines, No. 42
- Fort Lauderdale, No. 53
- Port St. Lucie, No. 61
- Orlando, No. 67
- Tampa, No. 68
- Miami, No. 78
- St. Petersburg, No. 91
- Tallahassee, No. 100
- Hialeah, No. 101
- Jacksonville, No. 125
WalletHub gets its information from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Sharecare Community Well-Being Index, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, Indeed, Glassdoor, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its own research, to name a few.
Visit the company’s website for the full rankings.