What Does Happiness Cost? About $75,000 a Year

Have you ever thought how much more happy you would be if you only got that $30,000 raise or $5,000 bonus? Well it turns out, if you make $75,000 or more, you won't be that much happier. Researchers from Princeton set out to find the level of income that increases in happiness begin to level off. The researchers wanted to test how money impacts how people view their lives and how they experience life, according to the Chicago Tribune report. So the researchers talked to 450,000 Americans over 2008 and 2009, evaluating how their lives changed as income increased. It concluded that increased income often helped the way people view themselves, like whether they thought they were successful or content. But after $75,000, the money did not help increase the quality of experiences or, as the Tribune report explains, "their feelings" about life. But employers should not take this as a reason to withhold raises. "Our data speak only to differences," wrote the authors of the report. "They do not imply that people will not be happy with a raise from $100,000 to $150,000, or that they will be indifferent to an equivalent drop in income... What the data suggest is that above a certain level of stable income, individuals' emotional well-being is constrained by other factors in their temperament and life circumstances." The study also found as people make less than $75,000, sadness increased and the effects of divorce, sickness and painful experiences had more impact on one's life. There you go junior professionals; use that info next time you want a raise. Photo by B Rosen

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What Does Happiness Cost? About $75,000 a Year

Ryan Derousseau

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Ryan Derousseau