New York City is America's unhappiest town

[grumbler]

Something is fishy about this if Richmond, a city I know pretty well, is supposed to be the "happiest" city in the country.

Madison, Wisconsin would probably take my vote for happiest, looking from the outside.  Maybe San Luis Obispo.

[dps]

Something is fishy about this if Richmond, a city I know pretty well, is supposed to be the "happiest" city in the country.

Yeah, that struck me as strange, too.  Not that I can legitimately claim to know Richmond well, but I have been there a few times, and at least on a superficial level, it's one of the most depressing places I've visited.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Something is fishy about this if Richmond, a city I know pretty well, is supposed to be the "happiest" city in the country.

Madison, Wisconsin would probably take my vote for happiest, looking from the outside.  Maybe San Luis Obispo.

Well to some degree I think happiness is about expectations. I don't know anyone who expects to be happy after moving to Richmond. But NYC is still romanticized, a lot of neurotic / gay / artsy / loser type people intentionally migrate to NYC from all over the country because they believe that is where their professional / artistic / gay dreams will come true. There's a big discrepancy between expectations and reality. When they actually move there they find that they don't get to live in the trendy neighborhoods because it costs about 8x what they earn in a month to sublet a cot in the kitchen of a 1 BR apartment from the 3 roommates who share the rest of the place; so instead they end up exiled to one of the nasty boroughs and it's basically like a bigger version of Cleveland at that point.

[Eddie Teach]

Also:

[garbon]

Something is fishy about this if Richmond, a city I know pretty well, is supposed to be the "happiest" city in the country.

Madison, Wisconsin would probably take my vote for happiest, looking from the outside.  Maybe San Luis Obispo.

Well to some degree I think happiness is about expectations. I don't know anyone who expects to be happy after moving to Richmond. But NYC is still romanticized, a lot of neurotic / gay / artsy / loser type people intentionally migrate to NYC from all over the country because they believe that is where their professional / artistic / gay dreams will come true. There's a big discrepancy between expectations and reality. When they actually move there they find that they don't get to live in the trendy neighborhoods because it costs about 8x what they earn in a month to sublet a cot in the kitchen of a 1 BR apartment from the 3 roommates who share the rest of the place; so instead they end up exiled to one of the nasty boroughs and it's basically like a bigger version of Cleveland at that point.

There is truth in that though your examples are a bit extreme.

[Josquius]

I blame the gays.
And the blacks.
No way is it the wealth disparity.

I can always count on you to post something dumber then I can even think of.

And I can always count on you to post a completely irrelevant reply that is not a reply.

[Admiral Yi]

If you're right Squeeze, all those New Yorkers need to do to increase their happiness is move upstate.

[grumbler]

Something is fishy about this if Richmond, a city I know pretty well, is supposed to be the "happiest" city in the country.

Madison, Wisconsin would probably take my vote for happiest, looking from the outside.  Maybe San Luis Obispo.

Well to some degree I think happiness is about expectations. I don't know anyone who expects to be happy after moving to Richmond. But NYC is still romanticized, a lot of neurotic / gay / artsy / loser type people intentionally migrate to NYC from all over the country because they believe that is where their professional / artistic / gay dreams will come true. There's a big discrepancy between expectations and reality. When they actually move there they find that they don't get to live in the trendy neighborhoods because it costs about 8x what they earn in a month to sublet a cot in the kitchen of a 1 BR apartment from the 3 roommates who share the rest of the place; so instead they end up exiled to one of the nasty boroughs and it's basically like a bigger version of Cleveland at that point.

There is truth in that though your examples are a bit extreme.

Ya think there was maybe some exaggeration for comic effect? 

That all sounds reasonable, OvB, and maybe the counter-intuitive nature of what makes for a "happy city" is the real story here.

[Razgovory]

I blame the gays.
And the blacks.
No way is it the wealth disparity.

I can always count on you to post something dumber then I can even think of.

And I can always count on you to post a completely irrelevant reply that is not a reply.

Okay, here's a more relevant reply.  You're an idiot.  Wealth disparity is actually worse in some of the happy places.  For instance the city with the worst disparity is Atlanta, which is listed as one of the happy places.  New York city has 13th worst wealth disparity and Richmond is 14th.

http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/best-and-worst/most-income-inequality-us-cities

[CountDeMoney]

Maybe San Luis Obispo.

They're not too happy out there now;  talking to my uncle out there, the drought is turning Wine Country into Raisin Country.  Hard times.

I'd move out there in a heartbeat, but no real jobs.

[alfred russel]

Think about it...

Tons of vegetarians.
Tons of asians.
Tons of liberals.
Tons of atheists.

I think you don't like to cook, and the place has a zillion restaurants. Many if not most have vegetarian options; more than a few cater to vegetarians.

I think New York being expensive is a bit overdone. A part of it is probably because out of towners drive into manhattan and pay $50 to park like dumbasses. Rent is expensive, but you don't need a car, and public transportation is world class. I think it is cheaper than London, Paris, Rome, or Tokyo.

New York City is awesome and I'd be happy to move there.

[DGuller]

You can't just dismiss the fact that rent is expensive.  It's really fucking expensive.  It's so expensive that it's the norm rather than the exception to live with your roommates when you're in your 20ies.

[Josquius]

I blame the gays.
And the blacks.
No way is it the wealth disparity.

I can always count on you to post something dumber then I can even think of.

And I can always count on you to post a completely irrelevant reply that is not a reply.

Okay, here's a more relevant reply.  You're an idiot.  Wealth disparity is actually worse in some of the happy places.  For instance the city with the worst disparity is Atlanta, which is listed as one of the happy places.  New York city has 13th worst wealth disparity and Richmond is 14th.

http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/best-and-worst/most-income-inequality-us-cities

As Otto says I doubt they have the expectations of New York however. Less people coming in from outside too I would imagine.

[sbr]

The rent is too damn high!

[alfred russel]

As Otto says I doubt they have the expectations of New York however. Less people coming in from outside too I would imagine.

Richmond residents have understood since their childhood that they will get shit on in this world, and have made peace with that, and in that way found happiness.