These Are the Happiest Cities on Earth

The 17 happiest cities in the world are all in Europe—at least according to the Institute for Quality of Life, which recently culled its list of the 250 happiest metropolitan areas with at least 300,000 inhabitants. The rankings looked at five metrics that "have a direct impact on happiness": the economy, environment, mobility, governance, and each city's citizens. Aarhus, Denmark, came in at No. 1. Ten US cities make the overall list; Minneapolis is the only US city to appear in the coveted "gold" rankings, at No. 18. The Hill notes that, in a recent SmartAsset ranking that looked just at US cities, including ones with less than 300,000 people, the Virginia city of Arlington was the cheeriest. Here, the top 10 in the Institute for Quality of Life's assessment:

1. Aarhus, Denmark
2. Zurich
3. Berlin
4. Gothenburg, Sweden
5. Amsterdam
6. Helsinki
7. Bristol, England
8. Copenhagen, Denmark
9. Geneva
10. Munich

See what other cities earned gold, silver, and bronze rankings here. (These are the best US cities to live in.)