Recently, San Antonio was dubbed the “Unhappiest City in Texas” by the finance company WalletHub and it was the 18th saddest overall city in the United States. Considering the unhappiest city was Detroit, San Antonians ought to be worried. While it is easy to get defensive upon hearing the news, once WalletHub’s parameters are studied and understood, their conclusion is easier to digest.
Based on previous research studies, the WalletHub team looked at aspects such as poverty rate, divorce rate, suicide rate and unemployment rate, among other categories. Out of 182 cities featured in the study, ranked from happiest to unhappiest, San Antonio ranked 155th in Emotional & physical well-being, 130th in Income & employment and 169th in Community & environment.
WalletHub does not provide any answers on how to fix San Antonio’s sad state. They can only share their findings and guess their causes. Of course, this study is singular and based its standards on other studies they have previously done — for example, they previously ranked Texas as the 39th happiest state. Nevertheless, their measures are not without merit and their conclusions are not unbelievable.
San Antonio’s poverty rate is higher than the national average with nearly 20% of citizens living in poverty. In Bexar County alone, the suicide rate is higher than both the national and Texas average. Other problems cited in the study are food insecurity and lack of green spaces, all of which negatively impact San Antonians’ physical and mental health.
San Antonio is too beautiful a city to be the unhappiest city in Texas — but the solution will not come easy. This problem is not one private citizens can fix by taking long walks in the park and talking to a therapist — this is on the city to solve. WalletHub’s study is a wake-up call to San Antonio officials, demonstrating shamelessly that although the city paints a pretty picture, its people are not being cared for properly.
Countries, states and cities are only as happy as their unhappiest citizen — and San Antonio’s got a lot of them. The city must move forward in economic and societal reform to bring forth a higher quality of life, focusing on livable wages, environmental protection, and healthcare services.
