Lot of smiles here

This cheerful Dallas suburb is the happiest city in America for 2019

Two Dallas suburbs have some the happiest residents in the U.S

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Life's still good in two Dallas suburbs, where folks are among the happiest in the country — and they're even happier than last year, a report from WalletHub finds.

The personal finance site reviewed 31 "key indicators of happiness," including income-growth rate, average leisure time spent on a given day, and depression rate, in more than 180 cities to determine the happiest places in the U.S.

Plano takes the No. 1 spot — making it the happiest place in America — for 2019, and Grand Prairie lands at No. 7. Those are improvements from last year, when Plano came in at No. 5 and Grand Prairie placed at No. 10.

Plano ranked sixth in income and employment, seventh in emotional and physical well-being, and eighth in community and environment. Grand Prairie ranked sixth in community and environment, 20th in emotional and physical well-being, and 35th in income and employment.

"Location plays a hand in how bright or gloomy our days are," the report says. "For years, researchers have studied the science of happiness and found that its key ingredients include a positive mental state, healthy body, strong social connections, job satisfaction and financial well-being. However, money can only make you so happy – people who make $75,000 a year won’t get any higher satisfaction from more money."

Maybe there's something to the old adage "happy wife, happy life" in Plano, where the separation and divorce rate is the fourth lowest in the country. The three cities with lower rates are Fremont, California (No. 1); Irvine, California (No. 2), and Gilbert, Arizona (No. 3).

Other DFW cities appear much lower on the list: Irving (No. 31), Fort Worth (No. 42), Garland (No. 47), Arlington (No. 49), and Dallas (No. 68). Austin is the only other Texas city in the top 20, at No. 14.

Meanwhile, other Texas cities fall on the unhappy end of the spectrum, including Brownsville (No. 86), San Antonio (No. 97), Amarillo (No. 98), Houston (No. 106), Laredo (No. 111), Lubbock (No. 124), and Corpus Christi (No. 129). El Paso tied with Arlington at No. 49.

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Turkey Day news

Dallas eats up top-5 rank on list of best cities for Thanksgiving

Photo courtesy of Razzoo's

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Dallas is sitting at the head of the table as one of the best places in the country to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, a new study has revealed.

Dallas ranked No. 5 out of 100 of the largest U.S. cities in WalletHub's annual "Best Places to Go for Thanksgiving" report, published November 12. The city made a huge leap over its 2023 ranking as No. 17, and remains the highest-ranking Texas city.

The study analyzed each city based on 18 metrics to determine the best places for Thanksgiving, such as the number of pumpkin patches per capita, the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner, the number of volunteer opportunities, the average weather forecast, and more. The metrics were then organized into five overall categories to determine the rankings.

The category that Dallas ranked the highest in was the number of celebrations and traditions (No. 2), and the average weather forecast during the holiday period (No. 9), while the lowest-ranked category was for safety and accessibility (No. 82). Other categories that determined Dallas' overall ranking were affordability (No. 60), and a "giving thanks" rank (No. 26).

Dallas restaurants are getting prepared for their big Turkey Day feasts, and CultureMap has rounded up a thorough list of all of the local restaurants hosting holiday feasts, from brunch to dinner.

"The best cities for celebrating Thanksgiving all have an abundance of high-quality restaurants and places to buy festive decorations, and their residents get very excited for the holiday based on their Google search history," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

By Thanksgiving on November 28, Dallas will be fully decked for the December holidays. Dallasites who will have extended family in town during Thanksgiving weekend can take in of all the marvelous Christmas lights brightening the city. Dallas-Fort Worth goes all out for the most wonderful time of year.

Across North Texas, three Dallas-area cities also made big improvements from their 2023 rankings. Irving moved up 10 spots to claim No. 19 this year, and Garland jumped up 21 spots on the list as No. 34. Arlington made the biggest improvement in the region, moving from No. 78 last year to No. 55 this year.

Meanwhile, Plano and Fort Worth slipped in the rankings, falling into No. 44 and No. 45 in 2024, respectively. Plano previously ranked No. 38 in 2023, and Fort Worth was No. 36.

San Diego, California (No. 1) topped the overall list of best places to go for Thanksgiving this year, followed by its Golden State neighbors San Francisco (No. 3) and San Jose (No. 4). Atlanta, Georgia (No. 2) rounds out the top five.

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