When it comes to being happy, that's often a very difficult feeling to measure.

How do you go about finding out if an entire city or town is totally happy?

mi pham via Unsplash
mi pham via Unsplash
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Lucky for us, we didn't have to figure that out, because 24/7 Wall Street did all the leg work.

Apparently, the happiest city in America is San Francisco, California according to their research.

maarten van den heuvel via Unsplash
maarten van den heuvel via Unsplash
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Not sure if you've been to San Francisco, but when I was visiting, it looked like people on top of people. I don't know how you can be happy when there are that many folks crammed in one place, but somehow someway people manage to put a smile on their face daily.

ben white via Unsplash
ben white via Unsplash
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At home in Illinois, it's kind of a different story, we had two different entries on the list from 24/7 Wall Street.

The first of which is right at the cut-off of 50 happiest cities in America, Springfield ranked 49th out of 50.

tucker good via Unsplash
tucker good via Unsplash
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The state's capital must have plenty of happy people to have been ranked so high.

The last Illinois entry on the list is kind of a tie, I guess. Based on the info shared by 24/7 Wall Street the 27th happiest city is Chicago, then Naperville, then Elgin.

chris dickens via Unsplash
chris dickens via Unsplash
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Maybe they're all being grouped together due to the proximity of the cities but if you live in Illinois, you know Naperville isn't Chicago, and Elgin isn't Naperville.

Here's the only time you could actually get away with grouping them together:  Let's say you're from Naperville or Elgin and you met someone for the first time while out of state and they asked where you were from. That would be the only time it would be OK to say you're from Chicago. It's just easier.

Maybe that's why 24/7 Wall Street grouped them all together. It's easier, and when you can say you're from Chicago to some rando just avoid having to respond to the typical follow-up question like "How far is it from Chicago?" it just makes for a happier existence.

See the full list of the Happiest Cities in America at 24/7 Wall Street.

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