Hugh: Here’s Where St. John’s Ranks Among Canada’s Happiest Cities

Given the reputations Newfoundlanders have of being neighbourly and personable, you’d think that the province is a pretty happy place to be. Sure the weather isn’t the best and travel off the island can be difficult, but no place is perfect. You might find it interesting that in a new ranking of the happiest cities in Canada, St. John’s doesn’t rank inside the top 10, or even top 25. No, our provincial capital doesn’t come up until number 37. So, how is happiness being measured anyway? The study looked at 30 different metrics from poverty rate to air quality and created a “happiness index” with four categories: Economy & Real Estate, Location & Demographics, Health & Wellbeing, and Community & Environment. St. John’s actually scored extremely well in the Community & Environment category, racking up the best numbers in the country. The Economy & Real Estate numbers held us back, as St. John’s came 90th in the country there. Curious about who ranked at the top? Every one of the top five happiest cities were in Ontario, with Caledon, ON coming in first.