A recent study said that Iowa was ranked number two on the best places in the country to live. Delving a little deeper into those results the data crew at WalletHub started by gathering a listing of the top things that make us happy, like great salaries, a relatively stress-free environment, stable home life and nice weather. They then began collecting data on the percentage of Iowa residents with college degrees, average commute times, cost of living, crime rates and more to come up with the top 25 happiest places in Iowa. Sorry to say that Carroll missed ranking in the top 10, but it did come close at 12th with a low 24.7 percent crime rate, 54.28 percent of the population married and an average of 209 sunny days a year. So when only a third of Americans report being happy, those of us in Carroll can truly say that the majority of us are. In case you were wondering, the top ten happiest cities in Iowa are Orange City, Sioux Center, Urbandale, Ankeny, Grimes, Harlan, Bettendorf, Waukee, Sheldon and LeMars. The saddest is Keokuk.
