The Happiness of Cities
by Richard Florida, Charlotta Mellander and Peter J. Rentfrow
Abstract
Research on subjective well-being has focused on cross-national differences, while research on cities and regions has shown that human capital is a key factor in metropolitan income and related outcomes. This investigation tests the hypothesis that human capital will have a significant effect on well-being at the metropolitan scale. This proposition is tested using data from the 2009 Gallup-Healthways Survey in 184 U.S. metropolitan areas, running regression models that examine the effects of human capital on city happiness alongside many other variables the literature identifies as potential predictors. The findings suggest that human capital plays the central role in metropolitan level happiness and well-being, outperforming every other variable including income.
