Are You A Karate Kid Or A Gossip Girl? Here's How Much Money You Need To Be Happy

Whether money can buy happiness has been debated for decades. The question has notably been used as quips in pop culture, as many musicians and scriptwriters have weighed in on whether the saying is true through performances.

The bottom, or top, line may depend on where one finds happiness.

“Whoever said money doesn’t buy happiness didn’t know where to shop,” “Gossip Girl” actor Leighton Meester, who played Blair Waldorf, said in the sixth episode of season one.

In contrast, the character Daniel LaRusso — played by Ralph Macchio in the "The Karate Kid" — quoted his mentor Mr. Miyagi in season three of the spinoff series “Cobra Kai” that "man who work for passion always richer than man who work for money."

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Despite some believing the fairy tale that they could live in a cardboard box with their loved ones and enjoy their best life, scientists believe people become happier with the more they earn — to a certain extent.

The Research: The average person’s level of happiness increases with the more money they make per year, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Daniel Kahneman and Matthew Killingsworth.

Happiness also tops out at an average of $75,000 in yearly income, according to the Washington Post.

But not all the research agrees. Killingsworth, a researcher on the topic of happiness at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, cited research in 2021 that happiness measured by income doesn’t even top out at the $200,000 mark. “Experienced well-being” from a higher income can continue to rise above that pay scale, according to the outlet.

The latest study, saw the two scientists — Killingsworth and Kahneman — pit their theories against each other, where they surveyed 33,391 American adults aged between 18 and 65 who brought in a minimum of $10,000 per household, the publication reported. When surveying households who brought in more than $500,000 per year, the researcher’s results were inconclusive because they lacked data.

The data was collected by asking the participants in the study to rate their level of happiness on a scale ranging from “very bad” to “very good,” according to the report. For 80% of the participants, the data showed happiness increased with higher wages. Conversely, 20% of the people surveyed felt their happiness plateaued at a certain level.

Still, the study found that there is an “exception [for] people who are financially well-off but unhappy. For instance, if you’re rich and miserable, more money won’t help. For everyone else, more money was associated with higher happiness to somewhat varying degrees.”

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