These Are The 10 Happiest Places In Indiana

There’s a search that we are all on that dwarfs our job or career search — the search for happiness.

And as we all know, where we live and the job we have can all play a big part in our overall sense of contentment and happiness. For that reason, we took a dive into a the most recent census data to help you identify which places in Indiana have the biggest smile of them all.

On our happy data journey, we settled on seven criteria to help determine which Indiana places are the happiest. The criteria include things like having insurance, owning a home, and having a job.

As it turns out, life is all rainbows and butterflies in Granger, the happiest place in Indiana.

Don’t start feeling sad, there’s plenty of happy to go around as life is still pretty sweet in the following “Happiest Places in the Hoosier State”:

1. Granger
2. Jasper
3. Zionsville
4. Batesville
5. Westfield
6. Carmel
7. Hidden Valley
8. Fishers
9. Avon
10. Brownsburg

There’s Nothing We’d Rather Do Than Measure Happiness In The Hoosier State

There’s a bunch of different studies out there that try to measure what makes people truly happy. And while we all know that money doesn’t buy happiness, it definitely removes anxieties and helps keep you healthy. It’s just that anything past about $70,000 a year doesn’t help as much.

So what else besides money contributes to your happiness? Well we think the following certainly do:

• Being well educated (Population with at least a bachelor’s degree)
• Having a job (As measured by the unemployment rate)
• A short commute to work (God do people hate traffic)
• Low cost of living
• Having a family (Getting, and staying married, has a ton of happiness benefits, on average)
• Owning a home (That’s a big plus)
• And the poverty rate (Money definitely helps out)

That’s a ton of fun — and happiness — for the whole family, backed by science. The data all comes from the 2010-2014 American Community Survey.

After we decided on the criteria, we gathered the data for the 114 places in Indiana with over 2,000 people.

We then ranked each place from one to 114 for each of the seven criteria with a score of one being the happiest (Any ties were given to the larger place).

Next, we averaged the seven rankings into a Happiness Index for each place with the lowest overall Index being crowned “Happiest Place In Indiana”.

Read on for more happy information about the top ten or skip to the end to see a list of how every places in Indiana ranked. Our apologies to Tell City which ranked 11th overall and just missed the list.

1. Granger

Population: 29,400 People Who Own Their Home: 93.2%
Married Adults: 66.9%

2. Jasper

Population: 15,177People Who Own Their Home: 64.1%
Married Adults: 53.3%

3. Zionsville

Population: 24,559 People Who Own Their Home: 75.8%
Married Adults: 67.6%

4. Batesville

Population: 6,397People Who Own Their Home: 62.7%
Married Adults: 61.2%

5. Westfield

Population: 32,426People Who Own Their Home: 76.8%
Married Adults: 65.7%

6. Carmel

Population: 83,474People Who Own Their Home: 75.0%
Married Adults: 66.3%

7. Hidden Valley

Population: 5,174 People Who Own Their Home: 87.5%
Married Adults: 67.2%

8. Fishers

Population: 81,060People Who Own Their Home: 79.6%
Married Adults: 62.4%

9. Avon

Population: 14,570People Who Own Their Home: 75.8%
Married Adults: 55.7%

10. Brownsburg

Population: 22,618People Who Own Their Home: 72.5%
Married Adults: 60.0%

Detailed List Of Happiest Places In Indiana

City	Rank	Population	People Who Own Their Home	Married Adults
Granger	1	29,400	93.2%	66.9%
Jasper	2	15,177	64.1%	53.3%
Zionsville	3	24,559	75.8%	67.6%
Batesville	4	6,397	62.7%	61.2%
Westfield	5	32,426	76.8%	65.7%
Carmel	6	83,474	75.0%	66.3%
Hidden Valley	7	5,174	87.5%	67.2%
Fishers	8	81,060	79.6%	62.4%
Avon	9	14,570	75.8%	55.7%
Brownsburg	10	22,618	72.5%	60.0%
Tell City	11	7,251	64.0%	52.3%
Dunlap	12	6,557	78.2%	61.4%
Bright	13	5,079	80.9%	54.3%
Noblesville	14	56,576	66.8%	59.1%
Dyer	15	16,322	87.8%	57.1%
Columbus	16	45,522	57.9%	50.1%
Bargersville	17	6,324	61.5%	68.9%
Munster	18	23,325	80.3%	53.8%
Boonville	19	6,220	61.0%	60.3%
Highland	20	23,429	74.6%	48.5%
Ellettsville	21	6,352	62.7%	47.6%
Lakes of the Four Seasons	22	6,854	94.2%	65.0%
New Haven	23	15,612	72.1%	52.6%
Danville	24	9,258	68.2%	56.3%
Rensselaer	25	5,787	56.2%	49.6%
Auburn	26	12,972	68.3%	50.9%
Tipton	27	5,288	56.6%	54.6%
Mount Vernon	28	6,607	64.0%	48.5%
Nappanee	29	6,639	61.4%	60.6%
Decatur	30	9,511	62.5%	49.4%
Chesterton	31	13,894	66.7%	53.1%
Mooresville	32	9,459	61.9%	53.5%
Crown Point	33	28,259	71.9%	52.6%
Plainfield	34	29,220	67.7%	48.8%
Bluffton	35	9,621	60.9%	49.7%
North Manchester	36	6,080	55.5%	43.8%
Huntingburg	37	6,489	61.2%	54.8%
Princeton	38	8,600	55.9%	48.4%
Washington	39	11,758	57.2%	49.8%
New Whiteland	40	5,646	75.6%	59.9%
Greenfield	41	21,012	57.7%	47.3%
Monticello	42	5,355	54.4%	47.4%
Wabash	43	10,534	58.6%	49.6%
Lebanon	44	15,688	56.9%	49.8%
Warsaw	45	14,179	55.9%	49.6%
Hobart	46	29,136	68.1%	49.4%
Cumberland	47	5,243	56.9%	55.9%
Lowell	48	9,347	71.5%	52.6%
Garrett	49	6,213	62.2%	52.0%
Franklin	50	24,193	55.0%	49.0%
Greenwood	51	52,799	56.4%	52.9%
Jeffersonville	52	45,869	60.2%	47.2%
Columbia City	53	9,057	61.1%	42.7%
Griffith	54	16,765	61.7%	47.1%
Portland	55	6,408	58.1%	46.5%
Cedar Lake	56	11,653	69.7%	51.8%
Greencastle	57	10,307	46.0%	34.3%
Seymour	58	18,686	56.5%	49.7%
Linton	59	5,368	56.0%	47.2%
Huntington	60	17,284	57.7%	44.1%
Portage	61	37,008	66.8%	47.4%
Greensburg	62	12,160	54.1%	45.7%
Madison	63	12,033	50.2%	45.6%
Valparaiso	64	31,745	53.3%	41.6%
Clarksville	65	21,579	53.7%	42.9%
West Lafayette	66	30,843	28.6%	24.8%
Alexandria	67	5,100	49.2%	49.7%
Rochester	68	6,151	50.5%	46.9%
Fort Wayne	69	255,784	56.5%	44.9%
Beech Grove	70	14,301	52.0%	44.0%
Angola	71	8,610	48.5%	39.2%
Goshen	72	32,297	52.5%	47.7%
Gas City	73	6,093	62.0%	45.6%
Lawrence	74	46,796	61.1%	46.6%
La Porte	75	22,153	53.6%	49.1%
Bedford	76	13,384	53.2%	46.3%
Hartford City	77	6,166	59.4%	51.6%
Charlestown	78	7,802	55.4%	46.6%
Bloomington	79	81,963	31.0%	23.5%
Kokomo	80	56,958	54.1%	45.2%
Evansville	81	120,220	46.6%	40.0%
Merrillville	82	35,262	58.4%	43.2%
Lafayette	83	69,982	44.1%	43.7%
Vincennes	84	18,233	47.4%	39.7%
Frankfort	85	16,488	52.2%	46.1%
Kendallville	86	9,847	55.5%	42.2%
Shelbyville	87	19,216	50.2%	42.4%
Peru	88	11,199	53.4%	42.9%
Crawfordsville	89	15,988	48.8%	43.4%
Marion	90	29,403	50.1%	35.3%
Plymouth	91	10,048	54.1%	47.3%
New Albany	92	36,496	48.3%	39.9%
Lawrenceburg	93	5,022	47.7%	36.6%
Westville	94	6,895	67.0%	20.2%
Martinsville	95	11,756	51.8%	46.7%
Salem	96	6,264	55.8%	39.7%
Logansport	97	17,933	55.3%	40.8%
Mishawaka	98	48,120	43.6%	39.7%
Elwood	99	8,569	49.5%	49.6%
Richmond	100	36,527	48.6%	41.7%
Terre Haute	101	61,040	45.5%	34.3%
Lake Station	102	12,369	63.8%	45.2%
Muncie	103	70,035	43.5%	30.8%
Indianapolis	104	835,097	47.0%	39.5%
Brazil	105	8,022	52.5%	44.3%
Michigan City	106	31,369	46.6%	36.6%
New Castle	107	17,859	47.7%	41.5%
Elkhart	108	51,539	42.5%	40.2%
North Vernon	109	6,736	48.6%	40.2%
Hammond	110	79,585	53.8%	40.0%
Connersville	111	13,267	48.8%	40.7%
Anderson	112	55,789	47.4%	39.2%
East Chicago	113	29,387	32.4%	29.7%
Gary	114	79,165	37.9%	28.4%