1 How much money do you think it would take to make you happy? Would an extra $10,000 a year do it or would it take a $100,000 salary bump to improve your mood?
A new study from Princeton economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman suggests that number depends on how you define happiness. The authors draw a distinction between emotional well-being, “the quality of a person’s everyday experience such as joy, fascination, anxiety, sadness, anger, and affection,” and life evaluation, “a person’s thoughts about his or her life (on a longer time scale).”
3 Their study of data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found that while “life evaluations rise steadily with income,” emotional well-being drops off at about $75,000 a year.
Beyond $75,000, money is important for life evaluation but does nothing for happiness, enjoyment, sadness, or stress. Both factors are important; it is good to have high emotional well-being, but it is also good to think your life is going well.
5 According to the most recent census data, the median U.S. household income was $52,000 in 2008, with about a third of households making above $75,000