--- title: 'Rich People Really Are Happier Than the Rest of Us: Study' description: New research confirms the ultra-wealthy are happier than people earning $500,000 a year, who themselves are happier than low-income earners. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 501 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2024-09-30T16:19:30.000Z' modified: '2024-09-30T16:19:30.000Z' section: Economy and Politics word_count: 612 canonical: https://money.com/rich-people-are-happier-study/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Stacked pennies creating a smiley face.](https://img.money.com/2024/07/News-More-Money-Happier.jpg) The old adage that money can’t buy happiness may finally need to be put to rest. A [broad body](https://money.com/ideal-income-study/) of [research](https://money.com/more-money-makes-people-happier/) has long shown that money and happiness are closely related, though it was largely believed that once someone earns enough money to afford a modest, comfortable life — usually around $75,000 — the happiness benefit trails off. However, this “happiness plateau,” as researchers call it, could be nothing more than a convenient myth due to limited information on super-wealthy Americans. According to Matthew Killingsworth, a wealth and happiness researcher and senior Wharton School fellow at the [University of Pennsylvania](https://money.com/best-colleges/profile/university-of-pennsylvania/), the ultra-rich are far happier than people earning $500,000 a year, who are themselves notably happier than low- and middle-income earners. Like with income itself, [Killingsworth's latest self-published research](https://happiness-science.org/money-happiness-satiation/) found that there is a big gap in happiness between high- and low-income Americans. “The difference in happiness between the top and bottom of the economic distribution was also quite large, contrary to the notion that money is only associated with small differences in happiness,” he wrote on his website. “The magnitude of the differences can be substantial.” ## Regain financial stability with the help of Freedom Debt Relief ### Freedom can start you on the path to resolve your debt, especially if you owe over $20,000. Why wait? Select your state to get started today! [Get Started](https://money.com/pr/l67257dab4e3?ap_referrer=%2Frich-people-are-happier-study%2F) ## More money, more happiness? While more money may have meant more problems for the late hip hop icon Notorious B.I.G., for most Americans, it means more happiness. For years now, Killingsworth has been chipping away at the idea of the so-called happiness plateau. In 2023, he was a lead researcher on a [widely publicized study](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2208661120#executive-summary-abstract) that found earnings of up to $500,000 per year indeed increased one’s reported levels of happiness. That isn’t to suggest people stopped getting happier if they earned more than that amount. Rather, it was a limitation of good data on people wealthier than that. That’s where his new research comes into play. It combined responses from other studies that measured a large sample of low- and middle-income earners (over 33,000) as well as about 2,200 high-net-worth individuals who are multimillionaires. What this analysis uncovered is that not only does self-reported happiness (or, specifically in this case, satisfaction with life) increase with income, but also the happiness gap between the ultra-rich and people who have moderate incomes is actual *much larger* than the gap between low- and middle-income earners. In other words, ultra-rich people are, in fact, far happier than people with modest incomes in the $70,000 to $80,000 range — the level historically associated with the happiness plateau. And modest-income earners are happier than those who earn less than them, too. (For reference, the average income in the U.S. is about $60,000 — roughly equating to a typical response of "slightly satisfied" with life.) Previous research based on a limited range of incomes made it difficult to determine the money-to-happiness ratio for people at the top of the income distribution, Killingsworth wrote. Many folks then filled in the blank with the idea that “each person simply needs to get ‘enough’ and can then rationally shift all their attention to things beside money,” he said. Another common theory suggests that the trappings of high society and its keeping-up-with-the-Joneses mentality actually made rich people *less* happy. “The simplicity this implies may be one reason why the idea of a plateau is so attractive," he added. But the reality is just that many previous studies that tracked income and happiness didn’t have great data on the rich. And the reason for *that*, at least, is obvious. “Perhaps rich people," he said, "are disinclined to spend their free time taking surveys." ## Reduce payments and make debt manageable with a Debt Relief program ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/25289/medium_2e7b27ce-b30d-40a3-beef-0139ecba6b47.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/06529b4bfb6b?bidid=4113842294&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670679327&ptoken=bed14a4067faab005a5612c7ecdb2f3d) ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/23879/medium_3847e650-29eb-411b-9b8c-05deb0d02cbc.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/29f95f73b00f?bidid=4113842296&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670679327&ptoken=fd81e375e4f2ba58680324f8fb48a116) ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/15565/medium_832cc4b7-74f8-4735-8fe1-6917816cbe8d.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/c5cb7fef26e0?bidid=4113842293&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670679327&ptoken=7faabcd441a13874daa26c2fb4b6391a) ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/22445/medium_ba73f26a-1e1e-4e49-9739-df1298783de6.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/e461f362d9e8?bidid=4113842299&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670679327&ptoken=aa8ad641a1ecacf814817a4831290918) ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/9246/medium_94931930-28cf-46b5-b09d-683979caec81.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/02a16caa3d61?bidid=4113842297&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670679327&ptoken=18e7fa2ee3feba577c18798e7e11631f) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/25289/medium_2e7b27ce-b30d-40a3-beef-0139ecba6b47.png) If you owe over $20,000 or more, Freedom Debt Relief can help you get back on your feet! [Get Started](https://money.com/pr/u5c2defb44d4?ap_referrer=%2Frich-people-are-happier-study%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/rich-people-are-happier-study/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Wealth", "item": "https://money.com/wealth/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Rich People Really Are Happier Than the Rest of Us: Study" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/rich-people-are-happier-study/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/rich-people-are-happier-study/", "name": "Rich People Really Are Happier Than the Rest of Us: Study", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-09-30T16:19:30.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/rich-people-are-happier-study/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/rich-people-are-happier-study/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-09-30T16:19:30.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Rich People Really Are Happier Than the Rest of Us: Study", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/07/News-More-Money-Happier.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-More-Money-Happier" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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