Boulder and Fort Collins always rank high when citizens are polled about their happiness and well-being.
Just recently, Boulder ranked second and Fort Collins was third among all U.S. cities on Gallup's well-being index. Denver was 18th.
Provo, Utah – another Western city – was No. 1 and the area around Huntington, West Virginia, ranked last.
The Gallup poll asks questions about how people rate satisfaction with their own lives and their mental and physical health. John de Graaf, co-founder of The Happiness Initiative, based in Seattle, has written about what makes people happy.
De Graaf says the happiness of Fort Collins residents probably stems in part from the large amounts of open space and green areas they enjoy.
For personal happiness, de Graff recommends practicing gratitude; saying no to multi-tasking; doing random acts of kindness and taking a little time off from television and other electronic devices.
