In 2009, a social study was conducted by policy adviser Simon Anholt and GFK Custom Research North America to find the happiest cities in the world to live. Weighing in at the top of that list was Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro. Rio's annual carnival festival had a significant impact on people's perceptions of the city --- many think Rio has a happy party atmosphere with qualities of good living and good humor all year round. Second on the list was Australian city Sydney because of its hot weather and friendly accommodating locals. Rounding off the top five were Barcelona in Spain, Dutch capital Amsterdam and another city down under, Melbourne. Anholt also added that Mediterranean and Latin American cities fared well because of their balmy weather and party atmosphere.
Recruitment firm Ajilon Professional Staffing also conducted research at the end of the 2000-10 decade to find out which American cities were offering the most legitimate job opportunities. According to the site, plentiful job opportunities are key to finding a great place to live --- not only does it mean a thriving economy, but it also provides employment security for the individual or family. Top of the list was Minnesota's largest city, Minneapolis. The city was ranked highly because of its steadily declining unemployment rate (down 0.7 percent from 2009 to 2010) and its growth of large companies in finance, health care, retail and manufacturing. The Texan city Austin came in at the second spot and stood out because of its low cost of living and varied sizes of businesses.
British real estate agent Knight Frank and Citibank of U.S. released a report at the end of 2010 detailing the richest cities for that year. The rankings were based on the analysis of four main factors: economic vitality, political influence, research ability and living standards. New York, London and Paris all occupied the top three spots, but not one of the cities can be classed as a successful all-rounder. New York, for example, had a living standard ranked eighth in the table but an economic viability and research ability ranked first. Rich cities are usually considered some of the greatest places to live because they have more money to spend on the inhabitants, for example the arts, transport, leisure, entertainment and sporting facilities.
Feeling safe and secure in your city is also vital to a healthy and happy lifestyle. Forbes writer Francesca Levy published a list in 2010 that detailed the safest cities in the United States. The list is measured by analyzing the number of violent crimes per 100,000 city residents, as outlined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Plano, Texas, was considered the safest city and was closely followed by Portland, Ore., Honolulu and Californian cities San Jose and San Diego. According to Forbes, the list also revealed an obvious correlation between a city's affluence and its crime statistics because richer cities tend to be safer.
