The pandemic has been rough . . . especially for people in larger cities, where interactions with people are a bigger part of daily life.  But some cities apparently did a better job keeping people happy.

A new study ranked more than 180 of America’s biggest cities by HAPPINESS . . . using factors like:  Life satisfaction scores, depression rates, physical and emotional health, income growth, employment rates, job satisfaction, and weather.

The 10 happiest cities are:  Fremont, California . . . Columbia, Maryland . . . San Francisco . . . San Jose, California . . . Irvine, California . . . Madison, Wisconsin . . . Seattle . . . Overland Park, Kansas . . . Huntington Beach, California . . . and San Diego.  (So California had SIX of the Top 10.)

And the 10 at the bottom of the list are:  Detroit, which ranked last at 182nd . . . Gulfport, Mississippi . . . Memphis . . . Huntington, West Virginia . . . Montgomery, Alabama . . . Cleveland . . . Augusta, Georgia . . . Fort Smith, Arkansas . . .

Mobile, Alabama . . . and Shreveport, Louisiana.  (So there’s big representation from the South.  There’s no one factor that seems to sink Southern cities, it’s more of a combination of things.)