See the Cities Where You Can Be Happier With Less Money

Would you be happier with more money? Only up to a point, and that threshold depends on where you live, shows new research provided by Gallup to TIME. In Atlanta, happiness peaks among people making about $42,000 a year—the lowest price tag on happiness among cities analyzed. But in Seattle, New York City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, it takes roughly $105,000 a year to reach the same level of happiness.

Gallup and Sharecare, a personal health company, analyzed over 350,000 interviews with Americans in 2015 and 2016 to determine how income affects people’s daily emotions, measured with questions like “did you experience enjoyment during a lot of the day yesterday?” and “did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?” Researchers compared results across 12 metro areas (where sample sizes were large enough across all income groups).

They found that happiness hits a ceiling everywhere, just sooner in some place than others. “It isn’t like in some regions you cap out at higher happiness than others,” says lead researcher Dan Witters. So New Yorkers making $105,000 are no happier than Bostonians making $75,000, or Atlantans making $42,000. Read more…

See the Cities Where You Can Be Happier With Less Money