![43% of Americans say salary can't buy happiness [OC]](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cho5gbp88c5f1-1536x795.png "43% of Americans say salary can’t buy happiness [OC]")
In a CivicScience survey, 43% of U.S. adults said that no specific salary could "buy" their happiness. However, among those who said that a certain salary could buy their happiness, the approximate dollar figure tended to increase alongside current household income. In other words, those who currently earn more were more likely to require a higher ideal salary to buy their happiness.
Data Source: CivicScience InsightStore
Visualization: Infogram
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Posted by CivicScienceInsights
39 Comments
Whomever said money can’t buy happiness has never been poor.
Poverty is one of the leading causes of depression. Financial insecurity is a leading cause of anxiety. Financial disagreements are a leading cause of divorce.
You don’t need to be a millionaire to be happy, but you do need enough money for your basic necessities.
Conclusion: the upper middle class know how much money it takes to buy happiness, and it’s a lot more than the poor think
Reminds me of the Weird Al line: “If money cant by happiness, I guess I’ll have to rent it”
Money doesn’t buy happiness but it does prevent disasters that might kill your happiness
On the one hand, blue is accurate for me. I’ve been happy at every salary I’ve had and none had anything to do with my income. On the other hand, certainly *to buy happiness*, and I do think that’s possible, *would require quite a lot of money.*
I’m not at all surprised that lower-income households find happiness in things other than money!
Really dislike the difference in basis (household income, desired salary).
It would be interesting to explore a breakdown of this data in urban vs rural areas. Or divided by some stratification of areas by cost-of-living.
Such a tiny sample and no info as to how these people were sampled. How can we say this is reflective of all Americans.
48% of poor people think money can’t buy happiness. That’s propaganda.
I think its a little more subtle.
Salary can absolutely buy happiness. Take a family of 4 living on $50k/year, and up that to $250k/year, and they’re going to be much happier, less stressed, and things will be great.
But take that same $250k/year and have them experience something traumatic and they won’t be happy anymore. Upping their salary from $250k to $500k while also having one of their kids die or a spouse commit infidelity isn’t going to make them happier.
The poorer you are, the more this is ingrained. If you grew up in a ghetto, unless you’re trying to be athlete, which is like, next to 0. You’re crawling your way out every single time. Some don’t get out. As you come into money, you realize, “Huh. Yeah. Money does not buy happiness, ” but it does allow for less stress, more resources, more time, less labor, and more availability to do things you want. Like having children. Women are now having more children in their 40s than ever before.
Growing up poor, I have a hatered of money. I grew up saving every cent I got from birthday cards, found on the street, summer jobs just by the off chance my mom actually needed it for bills, which she did. My brother stole 200 from me to buy drugs. Like, when you’re poor, you get forced into situations. If money was no object and everyone had equal amounts, the story might be different.
You can be poor and depressed. You can be rich and depressed. But you will get a hell of a lot of more opportunities with money. And while I don’t think money = happiness. I do think it allows people to do more and make better decisions. My mom had to marry or be broke with one child. Where her parents couldn’t/wouldn’t help support her.
Being poor and bringing children into that same environment isn’t healthy.
Hmm- shouldn’t the blue bar be on the left hand side of the chart?
So, 43% of the country earn enough to feel “happy”. That’s pretty depressing.
The 50k or less people being the ones who most believe “Money does not buy happiness” while also having the most people who think 100k is enough is very interesting.
The wording impacts this. That 43% number would probably plummet if it was “make life easier or better for you.”
Depending on the day, I might say that money doesn’t buy happiness, but I absolutely understand that $500k a year would make my life easier in terms of bills/debt management/retirement planning/etc. I could also easily afford an occasional large hobby related expense.
Having money does not equal being happy. But not having money does equal being sad.
It seems very weird to do a survey based on individual salary and then chart it based on household income. Especially when dual income households often have kids which tends to completely change household economics. Or when there’s often great disparity in salary between two people.
It can’t buy happiness, but it definitely helps stave off depression.
I mean some of the most miserable fucks in the world, are also the richest (*cough* Musk *cough*), so i don’t disagree.
People tend to think of happiness as something to obtain — they think it’s “out there”, and with enough money we can “go and acquire” it. But happiness isn’t ever “out there” and it’s not something which can be obtained. The commodification of happiness is itself a barrier to happiness.
What I have found is that happiness is entirely internal. It’s like standing around a glass sculpture or a silly mirror. Everything looks magnified and out of place and creates silly angles. But adjust your perspective just slightly and it’s a totally different view. That’s what I think happiness is.
I’ll take a job that pays average salary (60-70k) but makes me feel fulfilled. My current job makes me feel fulfilled because i feel like im doing something worthwhile in my lifetime that benefits the world in someways
As my mom always says, money can’t buy happiness but it sure as hell makes it easier to find happiness
When people are asked about their own salary and reported happiness: people have increasing happiness until they get to about an average income level for their community.
After reaching average- satisfaction doesn’t increase.
Interesting! They estimate that a little less than half of Americans think money cannot “buy” (or “determine”, unclear!) their happiness. This doesn’t mean that those folks wouldn’t like more money, or that they think money would make no difference in their lives. They may even think that more money would make them *happier*, but that no amount would “buy happiness” which they might understand as a kind of general state.
This chart can’t answer the question, but I would be curious what % of people believe that money can buy happiness *and who have at least that much.* That is, I wonder how many people believe that they have successfully used money to buy happiness.
They only ask rich people this question? Blah blah blah money doesn’t buy happiness but it does give you peace of mind and freedom. I’m pretty content with myself and life right now but I’d be a bit more happy with more money, but that’s also because I worked on my traumas and issues.
Hasn’t it already been established your life doesn’t get any better after a 146,000 annual salary but meeting your basic human needs like food, shelter, and rest all drastically improve everyone’s overall well being.
Also, why would anyone bother polling an American when half of them can’t read above a fifth grade level.
Take any random person with a salaried job, and for the same job with all else being equal in terms of responsibilities and time commitment, double their salary. No tricky shit like the world gets double the salary and everything gets twice as expensive. No explanation is given, but it is clearly communicated that this isn’t going to be taken away from the person. I find it hard to believe that this will not have that person be happier in most instances if we consider the salary increase as “buying”.
250k a yr is the number. Per person.
If you’re rich and unhappy then nothing will make you happy.
1498 responses when there are 260000000 adult americans makes this a very misleading survey. Salary alone isn’t a good enough distinction either since people can be working in vastly different environments for the same amount of money.
Out of 260 million, your sample size is less than 0.005% of the US population so it’s impossible to draw a meaningful conclusion. This is just a graph trying to convince people they should be happy to be poor.
There’s no real world conclusion about happiness you can draw from such little information, only unproven or incorrect deductions.
I can refute this by the simple fact that I’ve never seen a sad person on a jet ski.
Money can buy you happiness. Period point blank. But what that phrase is trying to convey is that we as humans adapt stress to our situation. We’re never satisfied, secure, etc.
Money may not buy happiness but it sure alleviates worry and stress. Unless of course you’re worried about losing a high salaried job or are working 80 hrs/week
43% of Americans don’t know wtf they’re talking about. You know what buys happiness? Peace of mind. You know what’s difficult? Not being able to afford food, housing, healthcare, etc. Money buys all that AND more.
I’ve been poor and been rich.
Being poor sucks ass. Everything – getting a stain on your favorite shirt, getting a parking ticket, breaking a shoelace, buying some bread that turns out to be moldy and the grocery store wont take it back…all that kind of shit is a HUGE blow to your life. When you are in this state, the world seems very mean and cruel.
Being rich means that if you get pulled over for speeding you can joke around with the cop and tell him you appreciate how he keeps your community safe because you can probably use a QR code to pay the ticket before you even drive away and the money is so insignificant it doesn’t even matter to you. It is a much more pleasant life.
Like my girlfriend always says: “Money doesn’t buy happiness, but I’d still rather cry on a yacht than my room”
It all depends what the stipulations are on the money. I left a $150k a year job and now make around 60% (I’m lucky I know). The stress imposed by the $150k job was killing me. Literally changed the person I was. I dropped down, took the pay cut and my wife is happy to have the fella she married back and we are all much happier.
It might not, but it does pay bills and unexpected expenses and those come with free depression if you get enough of em