Can Money Buy Happiness? What’s the Amount You Need in Louisiana to Be Happy?

Everyone thinks that more money will make them happier. But economists Daniel Kahneman and Angus Dean recently conducted a study that approximates how much money you need to make in each state to reach a level of happiness until a greater income won't make you any happier!

According to the report:

Earning more money will increase your day to day emotional well being, but only up to a point. At a certain level Americans reach a happiness plateau, in which they don't report better emotional well being regardless of how much more they earn.

According to Kahneman and Dean, that amount in Louisiana is a $71,475 a year.

It's somewhat surprising, that given a number of economic factors, our state ranked as high as 31st out of 50. Perhaps just as surprising, Texas ranked below Louisiana at 39th at a salary of $69,600. But no shock that to the east, Mississippi was 50th at $65,850. Nor that at the other end of the list, Hawaii, Washington, D.C. and New York require the most cash for contentment.

See the complete list of all the states (plus D.C.) and a map of 'The Happiness Benchmark In Your State.'