How Much Money Do People in Idaho Need to Make to Be Happy?
While money not be able to buy happiness, but it sure is a lot easier to be happy when you're not stressing about overdraft fees while you're picking up the essentials at Albertsons.
Personally, I can tell you that I'm much happier now than I was 11 years when I took my first job in Boise. Going from living at my dad's and being able to bank most of the money that I was making at my part-time radio gig to paying rent and other adult bills was a huge lifestyle change. There wasn't a lot of fun money left to spend on something I'd like instead of something I needed. While I was never in danger of not being able to pay my bills, it was still stressful. Now, I make enough to live comfortably and treat myself to something ridiculous like eyelash extensions and they make me well...happy.
But is there a magic number of money that you need to make to be truly happy? According to research done at Purdue, there is and if you look at America as a whole, it's $105,000. Their research looked at the amount of money it takes for someone to reach ideal "life evaluation" (the thoughts one has about their life when they think about it) and emotional well-being (day-to-day emotional experiences.)
Go Banking Rates wanted to take it a step further and see what that number was state by state. So they took Purdue's $105,000 and adjusted it based each state's cost-of-living index. After crunching the numbers, this is how much they determined you need to make in Idaho and its neighboring states in order to be truly "happy."
We're also comparing that number to the amount of money that the financial website says is a livable wage for each state. They define a livable wage as the amount of money you need to cover your necessities, discretionary expenses and still be able to put money into savings.
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