The minimum amount of income you need in South Florida to potentially enjoy life to the max:
Bottom Line: A couple of years ago a study led by Gallup on money and happiness found the following:
- Money didn't buy happiness but...
- having enough money to be able to comfortably met your day to day obligations is important
- $75,000 was the magic number at which money was no longer predictive of one's happiness
At the time the magic number for happy Floridians was right around $74,000. Gallup has updated their research for 2017 & the good news is that the magic number is only slightly higher for us today. Florida is listed as "around $75,000". That compares to states like New York and California where at least $105,000 per year is needed to achieve peak earnings to maximize happiness and Michigan where it's all the way up to $120,000!
I could go all philosophical and suggest that you'll never find happiness without God, which I do believe, but it's clear that cost of living along with environmental considerations are certainly factors as well. As an aside, middle America from Texas through the Dakotas requires only about $54,000 per year to achieve the minimum financial balance for peak happiness potential.