Poll: Level Of Happiness Linked To Wealth

HARTFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork) - A new University of Connecticut/Hartford Courant poll finds most Americans are happy, but just how happy depends on income level.

Even with all the stresses of daily life, nearly two out of every 10 people polled nationwide said they are completely happy with life in general.

A full 58 percent of respondents answered they were either completely happy or very happy.

UConn poll director Jennifer Necci Dineen said overall, the happiest people are those who are in a relationship.

"Those being with their family in general, with their spouse or partner in particular and even with friends are large contributors to happiness," Dineen told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau.

LINK: Full Poll Results (pdf)

Just three percent of respondents said money is most important in determining how happy they are.

However, 71 percent of Americans earning $100,000 a year or more reported feeling either completely happy or very happy with their lives, compared to 60 percent of those making between $60,000 and $100,000 annually and 49 percent of people earning under $60,000.

Those surveyed in the national poll responded that the stress is there, especially among women with children under 18.

"We see that the most stressed out people are those who are employed. So even having a job, which is a great thing, can cause you some stress. People with children under the age of 18 are also more stressed than people who don't have children at home," Dineen told Schneidau.

Eighty-three percent of those polled said they experience stress in their daily lives either frequently or sometimes.

Dineen added people in a good relationship who have a productive, meaningful job ranked towards the top of the happiness scale, a kind of happiness money alone can't necessarily buy.

The national sample of 1,006 randomly selected adults were interviewed by landline and cellular telephone between June 4 and June 11, 2013. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points for the entire sample.

You May Also Be Interested In These Stories