The cities of Yelm and Sultan have been identified as the most miserable cities in Washington for 2024 according to Saturday Night Science.
Do you reside in one of the most unhappy locations in Washington?
Only 33% of people in Washington state say they are truly happy. That’s unfortunate, especially since people in Washington generally have a relatively good situation overall.
However, we were wondering which cities in Washington might be the most unhappy. We are going to discover the answer by using Saturday Night Science and data.
After studying the 120 biggest cities, we unfortunately reveal the most unhappy cities in the Evergreen State.
Continue reading to find out how we analyzed the data and where your town placed in the rankings. If you are happy, it is likely that you do not live in any of these cities. Just to let you know, North Bend is considered the happiest place in Washington.
Most Miserable Places In Washington For 2024
Yelm
Population: 10,205
Poverty Level: 6.0%
Median Home Price $315,400
Married Households 12.0%
Households With Kids 49.37%
Sultan
Population: 5,208
Poverty Level: 2.5%
Median Home Price $315,900
Married Households 15.0%
Households With Kids 34.92%
Toppenish
Population: 8,843
Poverty Level: 16.1%
Median Home Price $159,200
Married Households 10.0%
Households With Kids 59.2%
Sunnyside
Population: 16,343
Poverty Level: 18.6%
Median Home Price $152,900
Married Households 16.0%
Households With Kids 53.63%
Woodland
Population: 6,368
Poverty Level: 7.4%
Median Home Price $275,900
Married Households 17.0%
Households With Kids 41.71%
Shelton
Population: 10,288
Poverty Level: 24.5%
Median Home Price $208,400
Married Households 14.0%
Households With Kids 38.24%
Battle Ground
Population: 20,536
Poverty Level: 6.4%
Median Home Price $344,700
Married Households 13.0%
Households With Kids 39.14%
Orting
Population: 8,781
Poverty Level: 6.9%
Median Home Price $336,300
Married Households 28.0%
Households With Kids 44.42%
Also Read: Survey Finds the Poorest Cities In Oregon For 2024
Method to Measured The Most Miserable Cities In Washington
In order to determine the unhappiest places in Washington, we needed to identify the factors that contribute to people’s happiness. It’s not hard to imagine that people who are happy tend to have high salaries, experience less stress, and have a stable home life.
We looked at the Census’s American Community Survey 2017-2021 report to find out about happiness. We used Saturday Night Science to analyze the data and got the answer.
Just like magic.
These are the factors we used to measure unhappiness:
- Percentage of residents with a college degree
- Average commute times
- Unemployment rates
- Cost of living
- % of married couples
- % of families with kids
- Poverty rate
Once we determined the criteria, we collected data for 120 locations in Washington that have a population of over 5,000 people. We assigned a ranking from one to 120 for each of the seven criteria to each place. A score of one indicated the most miserable place (In case of ties, the larger place was given priority).
Afterwards, we calculated the average of the seven rankings to create a Miserable Index for each place. The place with the lowest overall Miserable Index was given the title “Most Miserable City In Washington.” If you want to see the full list of states ranked from most miserable to happiest, simply scroll to the bottom of this post to view the complete chart.
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