What Is the Minimum Salary You Need To Be Happy in Every State?

by Gabrielle Olya, Go Banking Rates, Apr 5, 2023

Can money buy happiness? According to a recent Purdue study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, income can correlate with emotional well-being and life satisfaction, though this probably has to do with a variety of factors, such as having the money to pay for things like healthcare and schooling and more.

“Globally, we find that satiation occurs at $95,000 for life evaluation and $60,000 to $75,000 for emotional well-being,” said the study’s authors in the journal. However, the study also found that the ideal income for life satisfaction in North America is $105,000, as reported by Inc.

To estimate how much money you might need to be happy or have “emotional well-being” in every U.S. state, GOBankingRates factored in each state’s cost-of-living index and used the $105,000 figure as the “benchmark.” The states were ranked from least to most amount of money needed to be happy. GOBankingRates also included unemployment rates for many states for informational purposes.

It’s important to keep in mind, though, that “happiness” is subjective. The cost to live comfortably can vary from person to person. Keep reading to find out how much it takes to be happy in your state.

All data was collected on and is up to date as of January 25, 2023.

Hawaii  --  Minimum salary needed to be happy: $195,300 (highest in USA)

The cost of living in Hawaii is just under double that of the rest of the country, making it especially costly to be happy there. You’ll need to plan on earning almost $200,000 a year to reach that state of bliss in the Aloha State, though you can settle for emotional well-being, which doesn’t seem hard to achieve here, at $111,600.

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