They say money doesn’t make you happy, but researchers at Purdue University still took a shot at quantifying how much money is the ideal amount for someone to be happy.
Their study found that in North America as a whole, $105,000 would give people “emotional wellbeing” and “happiness.” But when factoring in cost-of-living, you need to be making significantly more in New Jersey to have “happiness” and “emotional wellbeing”: $120,960.
“The Garden State might have some of the lowest crime rates in the country, but it’s also coming at a high cost of living, 9 percent higher than the national average. And that can’t be easy to bear right now, with an unemployment rate over 4%,” the study’s authors wrote.
New Jersey isn’t even the state where you need the most money to be happy, according to the researchers. That ignominious award goes to Hawaii, where you have to be making at least $202,965. On the other end, you only need $87,465 to be happy, according to the study.
Despite the researchers’ claims, it’s obvious to most that money does not, in fact, infer happiness – that can only be found in your relationships with your family, friends, and the One Above.