Shreveport has a history of performing poorly in national rankings. Especially through the methodology deployed by WalletHub. But as it's been pointed out before, WalletHub doesn't have a grudge against Shreveport and Bossier City, our area just doesn't perform well in measurable metrics.

But maybe there's a little hope here.

Even though Shreveport once again ranked at the bottom of WalletHub's "2019 Happiest Cities in America" rankings, they're actually higher than last year.

First, here are the lowest ranks in this year's study (the numbers to the left are the overall ranks, with Detroit ranking last, making them the "unhappiest"):

182 Detroit, MI
181 Toledo, OH
180 Charleston, WV
179 Birmingham, AL
178 Cleveland, OH
177 Gulfport, MS
176 Little Rock, AR
175 Huntington, WV
174 Newark, NJ
173 Mobile, AL
172 Augusta, GA
171 St. Louis, MO
170 Fort Smith, AR
169 Cincinnati, OH
168 Akron, OH
167 Fayetteville, NC
166 Columbus, GA
165 Philadelphia, PA
164 Memphis, TN
163 Shreveport, LA

So Shreveport is the 20th "Most Unhappy" state in the United States. Which sounds really bad, but compared to last year, it's a step up.

Last year, Shreveport ranked #172 out of 182, meaning that Shreveport got happier over the last year. So what did the city do? Well in order to know that answer, we have to see what WalletHub was measuring. Here's an explanation from WalletHub:

"In order to determine where people in America are most content with their lives, WalletHub compared more than 180 of the largest U.S. cities across 31 key indicators of happiness. The data set ranges from depression rate to income-growth rate to average leisure time spent per day."

By the way, the "Happiest Cities" included two from Texas in the top 10, with Plano actually topping the rankings. Grand Prairie, TX was #7 overall, and Austin came in at #14.

So what did Shreveport change? Did the depression rate drop? Did our income grow? Or, did the cities that fell below us just get worse? Either way, we should take our victories, even as small as they are.

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