I've written before about how money can't buy you happiness. It's apparent, although I can honestly say that because I've been in a position where I haven't had two nickles to rub together and I've been in comfortable financial positions.
Based on recent studies, it appears as though the magic number is $75,000, even in large cities like New York City. Any more and the satisfaction levels flat line.
Further, the authors of the study "measured happiness along two axes—day-to-day emotional well-being and long-term "life evaluation." The key to the latter is setting realistic goals, but the key to the former is mostly having friends. “Emotional happiness is primarily social,” Kahneman says. “The very best thing that can happen to people is to spend time with other people they like.” (The "life evaluation" measure did continue to rise as income rose above $75,000, researchers note.)"
*This also explains why people are so happy when they like the people they work with.