Austin is much happier this year than it was in 2025: A new happiness study has ranked the City of Weird among the happier cities in America, and it's the second-happiest city in Texas.

WalletHub determined the happiest cities in America based on 29 relevant metrics based on "positive-psychology research" across three main categories: emotional and physical wellbeing, income and employment, and community and environment. As with most WalletHub studies, it compared the 182 most populous U.S. cities.

Austin moved up on the list and currently ranks as the 39th happiest U.S. city in 2026. Last year, it was 59th.

Fremont, California claimed the top spot as the happiest city nationwide for another year. Bismark, North Dakota and Scottsdale, Arizona, respectfully, rounded out the top three.

Here's how WalletHub ranked Austin across the three key dimensions:

• No. 40 – Emotional and physical wellbeing
• No. 97 – Community and environment
• No. 20 – Income and employment

Having a good job and a fun social life can count as factors for measuring happiness, but WalletHub separately emphasized that making more money doesn't necessarily mean "more" happiness.

"For decades, researchers have explored the science of happiness and identified several core factors, including mental well-being, physical health, strong social ties, job satisfaction, and financial stability," the report said. "Still, income has its limits — studies show that earning more than $75,000 a year does not lead to greater happiness."

Elsewhere in Texas
The Dallas suburb Plano and its residents' happiness far outshines the rest of Texas, according to WalletHub. Plano ranked as the 16th happiest U.S. city, and the No. 1 happiest statewide.

This is how other Texas cities ranked in the report:

• No. 70 – Irving
• No. 92 – Garland
• No. 106 – Grand Prairie
• No. 111 – Dallas
• No. 113 – Fort Worth
• No. 119 – Arlington
• No. 128 – Houston
• No. 135 – Lubbock
• No. 137 – El Paso
• No. 140 – Laredo
• No. 143 – Amarillo
• No. 150 – Brownsville
• No. 155 – Corpus Christi