What is the real threshold for money and happiness?

San Francisco – Manhattan, 110–120 grand for a single guy or gal & you’re still gonna need a roommate. This amount assumes the definition of happiness is an abscence of struggle.

Keep in mind that $75,000 isn’t supposed to be a hard number. It’s an average based on the data they collected, and it would of course vary based on cost of living. The other important thing to keep in mind is that there is not just one concept of happiness. The Princeton study you are talking about was specifically concerned with life satisfaction (the feeling that one’s life is going well). This is a sort of “overall” happiness, as opposed to the emotional ups and downs of daily life.

All that said, we have built a society in which one cannot easily go without money. You need a certain amount just to survive, and an even higher amount to be secure in your lifestyle. It is not surprising, therefore, that people with less money than they need to survive are extremely unhappy and that people with less money than they need to be secure suffer from a constant, even if low-level, amount of stress. It is also unsurprising that once someone has enough money to be generally secure and not have to worry about emergencies, they tend to be more or less satisfied with their life (with extra money creating variations only in other types of happiness).

But there is more to it than just money. There is also attitude. “Enough is abundance to the wise,” as Euripides said. While the society we live in requires money for security and survival, and while there are hard limits on how little we can make before we start losing out in these areas, our notions of what counts as “enough” also contribute to our perception of how close to these hard limits we are. If I exaggerated beliefs about what I need to survive, then I will feel stressed sooner than someone who has more accurate beliefs in this regard. The same is true if I have exaggerated beliefs about what I need to be secure. For someone with wildly incorrect beliefs in this area, $75,000 might not be enough to calm their minds.

Luckily, we can—within limits—modify our notions of what counts as “enough.” And in fact, there is a lot of related research that tells us how we can most effectively spend our money in the pursuit of happiness. Experiences make us happier than things (sorry industrialists). Giving makes us happier than receiving (sorry egoists). And as the Princeton study shows, reducing worry is one of the best ways to increase life satisfaction. This isn’t the worldview most of us were raised with, but discarding the notions society tries to sell us costs nothing. In fact, it just leaves us with one less thing to buy.

I heard that the upper limit is $500 million US. Where everything extra is gravy.

Depends on where you live as @stanleybmanly mentions. It also depends on what your thresh hold of wants is, above and beyond comfortable survival needs. I live on a ranch property owned by a childless couple in their 40’shere in Northern CA. that make a combined income of 176k a year and they are in debt and never satisfied, always the next race car, new car, show horse, 5000 sq. foot car shop, on and on. I used to live like a queen on less than 50k as a single women with an adult child.

I could afford good food,dining out, movies, weekend travel, the occasional big trip, fun stuff for my house, pretty much just about anything I wanted, but, that is also because my wants are not the same as a lot of people. I didn’t want a new car every few years, I didn’t want the latest and greatest in technology, I didn’t want expensive clothes and jewelry. I prefer to spend my money on good food, travel, fun things for my home and caring for my pets.

Money does not equate to happiness.There is no income level that will make you happy. Thee is no minimum income level that can make you unhappy if you are otherwise happy.

I agree with @SavoirFaire and @Coloma. It depends where you live and your notion of what is enough.

Am I still able to fulfill my social and familial obligations while engaging in self-destructive behavior?

The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows what we NEED versus what we want. Once the NEEDS are met, anything else is totally dependent on our level of maturity. The fully mature (Jargon: self actualized) person will be satisfied.

^ Absolutely, I was there once, wanting what you have = contentment.

The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.