With this salary, you are the happiest, according to psychological research

Not surprisingly, the researchers point out that the answer to this question is rather complex. However, they were able to come up with a conclusion: your happiness increases as your salary increases, but only up to a point.

Does money make you happy? to an extent

This is a large-scale study among Americans. The Princeton researchers It looked at the data and responses of about 450,000 people. Researchers have found that a higher salary doesn’t necessarily mean you’re happier, but that less money is associated with emotional pain. They saw that well-being among respondents increased with salary increases, up to the $75,000 mark (about $63,700).

Researchers speculate that this is because individuals who earn more than $75,000 per year can no longer improve their well-being because they can no longer do the thing that is most important to them: spending time with the people they love and enjoying free time, for example.

The increased ability to buy positive experiences offsets some negative effects. Researchers hereby refer to another Psychological study demonstrating a link between higher salary and lower ability to enjoy the little things.

Of course, the above study only looked at Americans, but another study Search all over the world gives the same picture. Here, the researchers looked at data from the Gallup World Poll, a sample of more than 1.7 million individuals worldwide. And they came to the conclusion that saturation actually occurs between 60,000 USD (57,100 €) and 75,000 USD (71,400 €). Although the researchers note that this number may vary by country and region. Saturation comes (logically) later in prosperous countries.

The difference between the salary in America and the Netherlands

I would also like to make a comment myself. Because although most Dutch people will not reach a salary of €51,000 ( average income in 2020 it’s 36,500 euros), and Americans with an average salary of $63,000 are exactly between those numbers. In other words, Americans get paid much more. This is of course because social charges are different. In the US, you’re expected to arrange a lot yourself (or not).

The lesson we can take from this is that you can be very happy with an average salary. And that extra paycheck doesn’t always make you happier. There is nothing wrong with earning a lot, until you have to sacrifice other important things in life. Good reminder in my opinion.