01.07.2023 | 6 minutes estimated reading time | Print this article

Does money buy happiness? Find out how much money you need to be happy around the world in 2023

Having a fortune doesn’t mean that you’ll be happy – or does it? It’s certainly true that money can afford you exciting opportunities, and that having a savings pot can help alleviate some of the stresses of day-to-day life, but how exactly does money impact our happiness levels?

We carried out research into whether money really can buy you happiness, analysing data from Office for National Statistics (ONS), personal well-being reports, and the World Health Organisation to reveal the cities in the UK where money can buy you happiness.

We then used GDP data to calculate the number of millionaires and billionaires in some of the largest countries around the world and compared this to data from the ONS to reveal which country is the happiest vs the amount of wealth that country has.

These are the top 20 cities in the UK where money can buy happiness

Oxford is the happiest city in the UK!

Coming in at number one on our list was the city of Oxford in the South East. Oxford has one of the highest happiness and life satisfaction ratings of our entire ranking which, combined with a life expectancy of 88 years, gave the city a happiness index rating of 82. The average salary for people living and working in Oxford, or in this case the cost of happiness, is £35,448, up £102 since the last index in 2020.

In second place is Winchester, also located in South East England. The Hampshire city has an overall happiness index rating of 76, combined with a life expectancy of 88 years and a life satisfaction score of 80.1. The average salary in Winchester is £35,942, meaning happiness costs £494 more in Winchester than Oxford.

Following closely behind Winchester is Lichfield in the West Midlands. While the anxiety rating for Lichfield is the lowest within the top three, and life expectancy is 86 years, the life satisfaction score is lower than both Winchester and Oxford, resulting in a happiness index score of 75.

 

City

Region

Happiness score

Anxiety score

Life satisfaction score

Average life expectancy (2022)

Average salary

Does money buy happiness index

Oxford

South East, England 79.9 28.8 80.4 88.11 £35,448 82

Winchester

South East, England 77.2 30.6 80.1 88.11 £35,942 76
Lichfield West Midlands, England 78.9 24.4 78 86.87 £36,754 75
Chelmsford East, England 77.3 27.3 78.1 87.02 £35,875 72
St Albans South, England 77.6 27.8 78.1 87.54 £43,794 71
Perth Scotland 75.9 23.1 78.1 86.69 £34,252 65
Cambridge East, England 76.2 28.7 77.4 87.80 £38,927 60
Bath and NE Somerset South West, England 75.8 32.9 78 87.88 £36,348 57
Leeds Yorkshire and the Humber, England 77.5 28.4 78.1 85.86 £32,308 55

Chichester

South East, England 74.6 35.9 80.2 87.59 £33,540 54

London

London 74.5 31.1 76.7 87.90 £39,801 51

Gloucester

South West, England 76.2 25.3 75.2 87.32 £34,346 48
Chester North West, England 74.1 27.5 75.3 86.91 £33,582 45
Aberdeen Scotland 77.8 29 76.8 84.96 £33,171 36
Durham North East, England 73.8 27.6 76.5 86.23 £29,895 30
Hereford West Midlands, England 73.7 30.6 75.8 87.38 £29,125 30
Lancaster North West, England 76.3 31.6 76.1 86.02 £30,623 26
Derby East Midlands, England 74.9 31.1 73.5 85.98 £31,158 23
Edinburgh  Scotland 69.4  28.3  73.6 86.02  £34,050 22

Stirling

Scotland 72.8 33.5 75 86.09 £32,848 20

The average cost of happiness in the UK is £36,945

St Albans, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Perth, Leeds, Bath and Chichester all made the top 10 list based on cities where money does buy happiness in the UK. Based on these results, the average happiness score of the top 10 happiest places was 77.1, with an average life expectancy of 87.35 years! The average salary of the top 10 cities, which are the happiest according to our data, is £36,319, suggesting that people in the UK are happiest if they are earning over that £35k mark.

‘Bankxiety’ is a factor in happiness across the UK

‘Bankxiety’ is a new term coined to describe the anxiety we face when managing our finances, and it’s a key factor in our happiness levels. While ‘Bankxiety’ isn’t (yet!) a dictionary term, feeling anxious when thinking about money is becoming more and more common, sadly. Worrying about money can be really hard on your mental health, and poor mental health can make managing your money harder, resulting in a vicious cycle.

Where does money buy happiness around the world?

Using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data, we were able to gain an economic snapshot of (almost) every country across the world. We analysed this data to estimate the size of the economy and income per capita by dividing the country’s current economic wealth by its population, and then we compared them on Happiness, Anxiety and Life Satisfaction scores.

These are the top 20 countries in the world where money can buy happiness

Iceland is revealed as the country in the world where money can buy the most happiness!

Coming up top is Iceland with an overall happiness score of 82 thanks to its life satisfaction score of 76 and a Happiness Index rating of 83.3.

With an overall rating of 78, 86.4 for happiness and an average lifespan of 70.30 years, Luxembourg is in second place. Coming in third place is Sweden, which follows closely behind Iceland with an overall score of 71, but a lower rating of 52.1 for anxiety and a life expectancy of 71 years.

 

Country

Happiness score

Anxiety score

Life satisfaction score

Average life expectancy (2022)

Average salary (converted to £)

Does money buy happiness index

Iceland 83.3 56.0 76 71.20 £37,866 82

Luxembourg

86.4 58.1 74 70.30 £53,565 78

Sweden

75.1 52.1 73 71.00 £35,112 71

Switzerland

77.4 74.9 75 71.16 £50,267 69

Finland

83.7 43.9 79 68.72 £31,498 69

Singapore

63.8

29.7

72 71.58

£33,139

63

Netherlands

76.9 74.5 75 70.70 £33,334 60

Denmark

72.3 53.9 75 68.30 £41,507 60

Germany

83.3 68.1 73 69.90 £30,284 52

Australia

66.2 64.1 71 69.80 £31,683 41

United States

71.0 61.6 70 66.78 £42,028 41

Norway

60.4 73.0 73 69.40 £42,175 40

Italy

77.9 59.8 65 70.60 £20,480 40

Canada

53.9 47.7 70 70.50 £27,626 38

Austria

68.9 65.8 72 69.50 £30,616 37

France

70.4 69.1 67 70.70 £24,969 31

New Zealand

69.5 80.4 73 69.72 £26,578 29

Ireland

64.8 76.2 70 69.62 £32,681  28

Belgium

64.3 55.5 68 68.40 £28,773 27
United Kingdom 57.1 55.4 68 69.10 £28,567 26

The average salary of the top 10 happiest countries in the world is over £37,825

Also making the top 10 list based on countries where money could buy you happiness, were Switzerland, Finland, Singapore, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Australia. According to our data, the average happiness score of the top 10 happiest countries was 76.8, with an average life expectancy of 70 years! The average salary of the top 10 happiest countries is £37,825 – suggesting that happiness across the world is achieved more easily if people are earning above that £35k mark.

Kevin Mountford, Co-Founder of Raisin UK, said: “While our research suggests money can help ease the stresses of daily life, leading to a longer life expectancy and subsequently allowing you to buy happiness, it’s not always the case in real life. Our research can help you decide which city across the UK and country in the world to live in to maximise your chances of being the happiest you possibly can, but it’s up to you to make your own happiness.”

Make your own happiness

OK, so you can’t buy happiness. But there’s no doubt that having the safety net of a savings pot can alleviate stress and contribute to us feeling more secure about the future. Compare different types of savings accounts on the Raisin UK marketplace, such as fixed rate bonds, easy access accounts and notice savings accounts and begin your savings journey today.

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Methodology

“Does money buy you happiness” rankings are created by ranking each city/country by their happiness, life expectancy, anxiety and worthwhile index score and salary/GDP per capita. The final rank is then based on the sum of the happiness and salary/GDP per capita ranking score given. The highest score shows countries that are equally happy and wealthy when both are of equal consideration.