You Need to Make How Much To be Happy in Texas?
There are a lot of people who will tell you that money doesn't buy happiness. I have found that the people who say that loudest, are the people who have the most money. It is easy for them to say that.
GoBankingRates.com and Perdue University studied the question of how much money you have to make in Texas to be happy.
The good news, they found that the cost of living in Texas is over 10% below the national average. Unfortunately, when you count the cost of living in San Angelo compared with other cities in West Texas and statewide, things are a bit more expensive overall in San Angelo, according to livingcost.org For example, San Angelo is nowhere near as expensive as Austin.
Meanwhile, Amarillo is much cheaper than San Angelo, but then again you probably don't have to buy as much air freshener in San Angelo to counter the stockyard smells.
Overall, Texans need a salary of $96,705 to be happy. If you don't make anywhere near that don't worry. It only takes $55,260 to find a state of "emotional well-being" in Texas. This is very depressing. If I tell you I'm nowhere near that, I'll probably have to have a talk with HR, so I won't.
Texas is #13 on this list. Mississippi is the cheapest and Hawaii is the most expensive. My mom warned me I should have married for money.
To be considered "rich" in Texas, a separate study says you need to make at least $130,000 in Texas. Even more, if you want to be rich in Austin. That's nowhere near as expensive as many other places in the U.S.
I guess I can comfort myself by knowing that money can't really buy you love, or is that a crock of crap too? Either way, I guess I'm just content to daydream about winning the Mega Millions jackpot. Then I'll be rich by almost any standard. I think it would be a great change of pace fo find out once and for all if Notorious B-I-G was right when he wrote: "Mo Money, Mo Problems."