What Salary Buys Happiness in Your City?

[uclaLabrat]

How do you like it so far? I love NYC, but I've never been to LA so I can't compare.

It's been ok...first week was pretty much hell...we had a hard time adjusting, work was a bit overwhelming, we were super homesick and had a hard time unpacking.

Now, things are a bit better...I think we'll have a lot of fun once my wife lands a job and we can get cable/internet hooked up. TW is dicking us around since the previous tenants never canceled their service.

If I can do something about the drug dealers that like to hang out on our porch, and maybe stop all the jackasses from screaming outside our window at midnight or later, it might even be nice.

 

[RichieZ]

118.5K for the bay area, strange that this is higher than SF at 102K

so maybe i should move to SF and then i'd be "happy"?

 

[CountZero]

Think some people are missing that this is essentially the ceiling. After this point the average person will not report being any happier. I'd guess it is supposed to be the point at which necessities and some niceties are completely covered while still building a savings and being able to occasionally splurge (vacation, newer car, etc). The point being that as salary increases people's happiness increases (on average for those who want to feel special and point out they are happy with less) up to a limit and then it plateaus, more money doesn't mean more happiness. The article is a good read.

 

[caddlad]

This place is fucking paradise.

I should pay some for the privilege of living here.

 

[Chaotic42]

$75,000 for Gulfport/Biloxi MS and $79,500 for New Orleans.

Guess I'm stuck at sad.

 

[zerocool84]

LA $106,500

That's why I'm not happy.

 

[JulesMaximus]

$99,000

Apparently, I am not happy.

 

[TridenT]

I only need to make $88k more then I'll be happy apparently.

Although really, give me billions and I'll be on top of the world. :awe:

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Its not necessarily what you make but its all a matter of what you make relative to what current fixed and variable expenses you have. I can make slightly less next year, but still be in a more favourable financial position than I am in currently because most of my fixed expenses will have been eliminated.

I'm in the $50k bracket, yet I find myself content. Have a mortgage, LOC, and visa payments, but not really living on the line, to the point where I have to worry every night about my bills.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Well, you are a Red Sox fan.

Wait, you earn $300k? What do you do?

Check out my profile.

 

[TecHNooB]

northern jersey

 

[hiromizu]

Money isn't everything but it's most of it. That said I'm not happy at all.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

I didn't read tfa, but typically these studies are looking at the point in which additional money ceases to provide additional happiness. You can be a happy person making $35k, but it is likely that if you made $70k and everything else in your life stayed the same, you'd be happier.

Conversely, you can be a miserable person making $1 million a year, and making another million won't do a thing for your happiness.

Well, from that perspective, yes I would be a bit happier with a bit of extra income (although I'm pretty happy now). As I said though, I'd want more holiday time too, so I can do more traveling with the extra income.

I have to say though, where I live, $35k is barely adequate (I make $43k). Going to $70k would be a substantial increase in lifestyle.

Personally, it would be hard to nail down a point where additional income wouldn't increase my happiness further, though I sense that's what this article is attempting to do. I suspect it varies for everyone, depending on your values.

 

[Eli]

This compares well to the cost of living comparisons we were doing.

It's an even 100 in Santa Fe, $75k. Portland/Vancouver/Beaverton is 117 and $87,750.

It seems strange to lump Vancouver in there, though. I mean, it's in a different state.. They have sales tax, lol. And from the research we've been doing, it seems you can generally get a better bang for your buck, as far as houses go at least, in Vancouver. But... yeah.

Seattle is 114 and $85,500.

I really have to ask.. Why is it so cheap to live in GA, AR, OK, TX, AL, TN...? Can someone give me an answer other than they're all a bunch of inbred rednecks?

 

[velillen]

At first for my area Bremerton,-Silverdale, WA @ 75k i laughed. Then i kinda realized ya know 75k here if you work at the shipyard (federal employee) 75k isnt that hard to make after a few years. A mechanic's average salary here is ~66k with no overtime. Pretty rare to go a full year without overtime so it is much higher. Engineers/Supervisors/managers are all above the 75k range, well a lot of the engineers are not all. Point is for our main employer here probably 40% of the work force makes more than the "happiness index".

Guess we have a lot of happy people here.

 

[KentState]

Hopefully .gov won't start trying to keep us at the happy sweet spot and tax us down if we make too much.

 

[Eli]

At first for my area Bremerton,-Silverdale, WA @ 75k i laughed. Then i kinda realized ya know 75k here if you work at the shipyard (federal employee) 75k isnt that hard to make after a few years. A mechanic's average salary here is ~66k with no overtime. Pretty rare to go a full year without overtime so it is much higher. Engineers/Supervisors/managers are all above the 75k range, well a lot of the engineers are not all. Point is for our main employer here probably 40% of the work force makes more than the "happiness index".

Guess we have a lot of happy people here.

I don't think you quite get what it means by "happiness threshold" though. It's not saying its required for happiness, it's saying this is the threshold where "happiness returns" start to diminish.

I mean, I guess it depends on your perspective. If you're only making 35k/year, it's pretty easy to imagine what doubling it would do to your quality of life. In my eyes, it's not even about quality of life. You can get by, have decent things in a decent neighborhood on very little if you try. I certainly don't make anywhere near 75k. But I can imagine all of the things, not necessarily quality of life related, but.. happiness related, that extra income could bring.

It would make me happy to have a garage with a lift. It would make me happy to be able to restore an old car, or build a high performance engine. Have a machine shop. Be able to see my ideas through.. lol.

That's the problem with these things. Everyone's experience is different.

 

[Farang]

$75k. I'm well below that, but it seems accurate. With that kind of money you could buy a well built house with some land and a view of the mountains, and still have enough to live well day-to-day while saving for retirement.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

damn 99k for SD. That means I'm deep in sadness haha.
To reiterate peeluckyduckee:
Living in SD, I am in the 50k bracket as well. Yet, I have a mortgage on a small condo, credit card payments that are paid in full every month, my car is paid off, and i still have student loans to pay off.

W/ only this much salary, how was I able to get a small condo, pay off my car, have a relatively badass computer, big screen tv's, appliances, etc etc? I still have a small, but growing cushion of cash/savings; in case shit happens. I think people underestimate the value of how much they need to live.

/brag

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Answer: NONE. Money doesn't buy happiness.

"Whoever said `Money can`t buy you love or joy` obviously was not making enough money."

 

[PhineasJWhoopee]

It would be considerably less than $75K in my podunk.

 

[seepy83]

$96750 for happiness here....just need a 13.824% raise to get there...

 

[JTsyo]

$163K in northern NJ

 

[illusion88]

Wile I didn't need to look at the list to know that I was below the "happiness" line, I didn't expect to see that I was 75% under the ling. Wowser.

I'm not convienced on their standard of "happiness". $73,500 would do a lot in my town, but than again, so would $50,000. I am happy at what I make, which is substantially lower tahn their index.

 

[xanis]

$77,250 – Philadelphia, PA

If you live outside of Center City, ride a bike/use SEPTA, and are smart, you can live comfortably in this city for much less than that.