The Minimum Salary You Need To Be Happy in Every State

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.

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"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 satisfied or happy 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 and crime rates for many states for informational purposes.

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Keep reading to find out how much it takes to be happy in your state. It's important to keep in mind, though, that "happiness" is subjective.

The cost to live comfortably can vary from person to person.

Last updated: Sep. 7, 2021

Mississippi

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $87,465

If you love living in Mississippi, lucky you! The state's low cost of living means you can stretch your paycheck that much farther. And while nearly $90,000 is a lot more than most Mississippians earn in a year, the range the study sets for "emotional well-being" goes as low as about $50,000 a year in the birthplace of the blues.

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Kansas

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $91,455

Kansas' salary to be happy is nearly $14,000 a year below the rate quoted for North America as a whole, representing a cost of living that's nearly 14% below the national average.

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Oklahoma

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $93,030

Oklahoma's low cost of living is likely going to be even more welcome than usual given the current unemployment rate is 3.5 percent.

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Alabama

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $93,240

If you're looking at a figure of $93,240 and thinking it's just not realistic in the Yellowhammer State, you should know that the study's band of incomes allowing for "emotional well-being" runs as low as $53,280.

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Arkansas

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $93,555

That $93,555 might seem out of reach for many Arkansans, but it's notable that a range of $53,460 to $66,825 would get you to the "emotional well-being" stage described in the Purdue study.

Georgia

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $93,870

Not only can Georgians claim to have one of the most attainable levels of income to be happy, they also live in one of the states that's lucky enough to still be showing an unemployment rate below 4%.

Tennessee

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $94,080

Tennessee's cost of living is 10% below the national average, but its crime rates are higher — potentially making happiness that much harder to attain. The state sees 5.95 violent crimes and 26.53 property crimes per 1,000 residents.

Missouri

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $94,605

The "life evaluation" stage — in which you feel comfortable about providing for your basic needs and start considering other, bigger questions — would come at a more attainable $85,595 in the Show-Me State.

New Mexico

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $95,340

Being able to stretch your paycheck farther than most of the rest of the country has got to make life easier for all New Mexicans — even those making well under $90,000 a year. However, residents' happiness levels could be limited by the high rates of violent and property crime.

Indiana

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $95,550

Hoosiers have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, though the unemployment rate has rebounded to 4.1%. Additionally, Indiana has a low crime rate that should help residents manage the crisis just a little easier.

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Iowa

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $95,655

Iowans can enjoy lower costs than the nation on the whole as well as much lower crime rates. As such, Hawkeyes earning less than $95,655 a year have plenty of reasons to enjoy life.

Michigan

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $95,970

The Great Lake State is also the great cost of living state for many. However, it has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus and nearly 1 in 5 Michiganders is currently unemployed.

Ohio

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $96,600

At the height of the pandemic, 13.7% of the Buckeye State was unemployed. However, that number has rebounded to 5.4%, hopefully improving the lives of many Ohioans.

Texas

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $97,230

Residents of the Longhorn State are fond of saying "everything's big in Texas," but that definitely doesn't include prices. The cost of living there is almost 8% below the national average.

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West Virginia

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $97,545

While the unemployment rate in West Virginians is at 5%, the state does have an especially low rate of property crime going for it. There are just over 15 a year for every 1,000 residents.

Louisiana

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $98,070

One thing that likely makes it harder to be happy in Louisiana is that it's has the highest property crime rate of all the states. There are nearly 32 such incidents each year for every 1,000 people living there.

Kentucky

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $98,595

Kentucky's relatively low cost of living is paired with its very low rates of crime. There's just over two violent crimes for every 1,000 Kentuckians each year, and just under 20 property crimes.

Nebraska

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $98,595

Nebraska's normally low cost of living is looking even better right now as its unemployment rate continues to lag way behind the rest of the country. Sitting at just 3.0%, it's among the lowest in the country.

Idaho

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $99,540

The people of Idaho certainly don't think of $99,000 as small potatoes, but even those earning less than that can enjoy decently low rates of violent crime and property crime in the country.

Illinois

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $100,170

Illinois' current unemployment rate hovers north of 7%, suggesting that a lot of people there are currently focused on making ends meet for the present. However, people can still find emotional well being at just $57,240.

Wyoming

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $100,275

Wyoming has hardly come through this crisis unscathed; it was at an 8.8% unemployment rate in February. However, that rate has come up to just 5.2% and it has low violent and property crime to offset economic issues.

South Carolina

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $101,220

North and South Carolina have virtually identical costs of living, so there's no difference in what it takes to be happy between them. However, South Carolinians are victim to far more property crime as 1 of just 4 states with 29 or more such incidents per 1,000 residents.

North Carolina

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $101,220

Making $100,000 a year is often considered a long-term goal for many Americans, and that could be reinforced by the conclusions of the Purdue study. North Carolina is among those states where you need to make at least $100,000 a year to be happy, but 30 others similarly call for a six-figure income to be happy.

Wisconsin

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $101,850

Plenty in the Badger State might view a salary of over $100,000 outside of what they can expect from their career, but that doesn't mean they're doomed to a life of being overworked. For a state of "emotional well-being," anywhere from $58,200 to $72,750 will suffice.

North Dakota

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $102,480

One of those lucky states where unemployment has remained below 4%, North Dakotans are still looking at a considerable sum to reach happiness as defined by the Purdue study.

Utah

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $103,530

While that six-figure income might leave some Utahans feeling a little intimidated, it should be noted the state has a lot going for it — like comparatively low rates of unemployment and violent crime.

South Dakota

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $103,950

South Dakotans can expect an easier time than most of the country when it comes to property crime. The rate of 17.71 crimes per 1,000 residents each year is among the nation's lowest.

Montana

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $105,315

While the cost of living in Montana is higher than the nation as a whole, it might not be felt as hard there at the moment. Montana's unemployment rate is also comfortably low at 3.6%.

Florida

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $106,050

The Sunshine State is doing pretty well, despite previously high unemployment during the pandemic. Right now, unemployment is at 5.1%.

Minnesota

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $106,260

One thing that's likely to help improve the happiness of Minnesotans of all incomes is the relatively low rate of violent and property crime, with rates of just 2.36 and 20.79 per 1,000 residents, respectively.

Virginia

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $106,365

Virginia boasts the fourth-lowest violent crime rate in the country, and the relative peace of mind that can come with a firm sense of safety is hard to put a price on. However, in terms of cost of living alone, the state's among the costlier of the rest of the country.

Arizona

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $107,520

Arizona is just a tenth of a percent higher than the national average for cost of living, making it a great way to get a sense of costs for the typical American. The state's 6.6% unemployment rate is higher than the rest of the country, but Arizonans can get by on just $61,440 for "emotional well-being."

Colorado

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $110,670

Colorado is higher than the norm both in terms of cost of living and its rate of property crimes per 1,000 residents, but you can still expect to find "emotional well-being" in an income range of $63,240 to $79,050.

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Pennsylvania

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $108,150

Pennsylvania's economy was hit harder than many others, with an unemployment rate, though lower than its peak of 13.1%, is still higher than others at 6.6%. However, the most recent data on its property crime rate shows them to be among the nation's lowest.

Delaware

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $113,400

Delaware's unemployment rate has rebounded from its peak, down to 5.6%. So, while $113,400 a year likely seemed out of reach for most residents in good times, the slight rebound in employment should be helping.

Nevada

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $113,505

With its strong association with the hospitality industry, Nevada has been hit hardest by the pandemic. It has the nation's highest unemployment rate at 7.7%.

See: How To File for Unemployment and What To Do After Losing Your Job

New Hampshire

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $114,975

Cost of living is high throughout New England, and New Hampshire is no exception, with residents paying 9.5% more than the national average. But the high cost to live here correlates with the state's safety. New Hampshire has extremely low crime rates — it's 1 of just 3 states with fewer than 2 violent crimes annually per 1,000 residents.

Washington

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $118,335

While $118,000 may seem like a lot to achieve, residents here can still find "emotional well-being" in the range of $67,620 to $84,525.

New Jersey

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $121,275

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, 15 percent higher than the national average. And that can't be easy to bear right now, with an unemployment rate over 7%.

Maine

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $122,325

Maine represents the nation's safest state, with just 1.15 violent crimes annually per 1,000 residents. However, living here isn't cheap, with a cost of living that is more than 16% over the national average.

Vermont

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $122,640

Vermont boats a violent crime rate  of just above 2 per every 1,000 residents, Vermont also has one of the nation's lowest rate for property crime at 14.24 a year per 1,000 residents.

Rhode Island

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $125,160

Rhode Island is one more New England state where it costs a lot to get by, but the crime rates are very low. The cost of living is 19.2% higher than the national average, but there are just 2.21 violent crimes and 15.35 property crimes per 1,000 residents each year.

Connecticut

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $128,415

While neighboring Rhode Island was hit especially hard by the pandemic Connecticut avoided some of the worst of it. Unemployment there remains below 7.5%.

Maryland

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $131,775

Maryland's unemployment rates are at 6% right now, especially with a cost of living 25.5% higher than the national average. But people can still find happiness here at around $75,300 annual income.

Alaska

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $132,615

The crime rates in Alaska are among the highest in the country. Its violent crime rate is 8.67 a year per 1,000 residents, and its property crime rates is 29.11 a year per 1,000 residents.

Oregon

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $138,495

The cost of living is more than a full third higher than the national average. So while the unemployment rate is down to 5.2% being out of work there is likely a much more difficult proposition than in other parts of the country.

Massachusetts

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $139,125

Much like the rest of New England, Massachusetts has a combination of relatively low crime and high costs. The cost of living is 32.5% higher than the national average, but there are only 3.28 violent crimes per 1000 people, and the property crime rate is just 11.80.

California

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $145,845

California's notoriously high cost of living is on display here, with just over $145,000 a year being needed to secure happiness. While California's staggering 16.3% unemployment rate at the height of the pandemic has come down, 7.6% is still among the highest in the nation.

New York

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $153,195

The Empire State comes with some empire-sized costs of living, with the average New York resident shelling out 45.9% more than the national average. And with an unemployment rate of 7.6%, times are tough for a lot of New Yorkers right now.

Hawaii

• Minimum salary needed to be happy: $203,070

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 over $200,000 a year to reach that state of bliss in the Aloha State.

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Jordan Rosenfeld and Alexandria Bova contributed to the reporting of this article.

Methodology: GOBankingRates determined the cost-of-living-adjusted minimum salary needed to be "happy" based on income satiation levels identified by Purdue University researchers. Global income satiation levels are the following: $95,000 for "life evaluation" and $60,000-$75,000 for "emotional well-being." In North America, the income satiation level is $105,000 for "life evaluation," according to Purdue. To get a state-by-state breakdown, we factored in each city's cost of living index, sourced from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center: Composite Cost of Living Index Quarter Two of 2021. For supplemental data, GOBankingRates found each state's July 2021 unemployment rate as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and violent and property crime rates (per 1,000 residents) as sourced from NeighborhoodScout.com. All data was collected on and is up to date as of August 30, 2021.

About the Author

Joel Anderson

Joel Anderson is a business and finance writer with over a decade of experience writing about the wide world of finance. Based in Los Angeles, he specializes in writing about the financial markets, stocks, macroeconomic concepts and focuses on helping make complex financial concepts digestible for the retail investor.

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