Jersey City residents are the biggest critics of their city, as well as its staunchest defenders. It seems things are not as bad as locals sometimes portray them. Men's Health magazine has come up with a list of those cities considered the happiest in the country and Jersey City ranks third, behind two Texas municipalities and ahead of another Lone Star State town.

The method used to determine this list included checking antidepressant sales, suicide rates and the number of days the inhabitants reported being depressed. Federal agencies provided the data collected by Sperling's Best Places, an Internet firm that can be found at www.bestplaces.net, where a number of different surveys are available.

Laredo and El Paso are listed ahead of Jersey City and Corpus Christi, on the Gulf of Mexico, is ranked just below the Hudson County seat. A reason given for the top rankings is that states and local health services in these cities provide strong programs dealing with mental illness, including crisis psychiatric help.

New York City was ranked 91st out of 101. We can only guess that this all stems from the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series. Boston is 71st, probably because its residents still cannot believe they won.

Not that long ago, Sperling also did Jersey City justice when it used special software allowing people to enter their personal preferences in determining "America's Best and Worst Cities for Dating." Jersey City came in 11th as a best place for dating. It was edged out for the top ten by Honolulu.

Is it all too good to be true? Perhaps it is. In another survey, the same outfit found that Jersey City ranked 19th out of 100 most stressful places to live. Among those cities more stressful are Miami, New York, Detroit and Denver. Phoenix is right behind Jersey City. What some people call stress, Jersey City people probably see as an invigorating way of life.

Life is good in the middle of Hudson County. Consider the question of which municipality, Jersey City or Anchorage, Alaska, is the most toxic. Men's Health Magazine used an environmentalist site, www.scorecard.org/ranking/, to get this answer. Using data on air pollutants, smog and particulates, toxic chemical releases, Superfund sites, lead hazards in housing, animal waste and more, Anchorage, with a "D" grade, was deemed more toxic than Jersey City, "C-".

What does it all mean? Perhaps, it is not always easy to find greener grass than here - when Jersey City does have grass.