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Pittsburgh ranks #2 on ‘most unhappy' cities list

PITTSBURGH — A new study by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research ranks Pittsburgh as the second most unhappy city in the U.S.

The city earned its ranking based on a survey asking respondents about their satisfaction with life.

The good news? According to this study, people are still willing to move to cities such as ours [despite its unhappy ranking] for jobs and lower housing costs.

“Our research indicates that people care about more than happiness alone, so other factors may encourage them to stay in a city despite their unhappiness,” says co-author of the study, Joshua Gottlieb, of the University of British Columbia. “This means that researchers and policy-makers should not consider an increase in reported happiness as an overriding objective.”

Gottlieb and his co-authors investigated which regions of the U.S. tend to report lower life satisfaction, and found that residents of declining cities appear less happy than those who live in other parts of the U.S.

Top 10 unhappiest metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million (as of 2010):

1. New York, NY
2. Pittsburgh, PA
3. Louisville, KY
4. Milwaukee, WI
5. Detroit, MI
6. Indianapolis, IN
7. St. Louis, MO
8. Las Vegas, NV
9. Buffalo, NY
10. Philadelphia, PA