• Three people who've earned $100,000 annually said it reduced stress but wasn't life-changing.
• Higher incomes allowed them to focus on personal growth, relationships, and financial security.
• Despite the rising costs of food, housing, cars, and childcare, a $100,000 income remains impactful.

When Joshua first earned a $100,000 salary about five years ago, it didn't impact his lifestyle much.

"I wasn't able to splurge or to afford luxurious things," the 30-year-old fintech professional, who's based in Georgia, told Business Insider via email.

But increasing his income to that level did do one important thing: It helped him worry much less about his finances. Joshua said the boost to his financial security also made his relationships with his friends and family more comfortable.

"There was no longer the strain of borrowing and paying back money, no longer going out to eat to get a quick meal and being anxious about if I could foot the bill," he said.

A $100,000-a-year salary doesn't go as far as it used to in an economy where the rising costs of food, housing, cars, childcare, and other expenses are weighing on people's finances. Last year, Americans said they'd need to earn $233,000 a year to feel financially secure and $483,000 to feel rich, according to a Bankrate survey conducted in June 2023. What's more, a survey conducted by the New York Fed in March found that the average reservation wage for Americans with a college degree — the lowest annual wage they'd be willing to accept for a new job — rose to a high of about $99,000.

However, for many Americans, reaching a six-figure income could still have a significant impact on their finances and well-being. As of March, the average annual salary for full-time workers was about $84,000, according to a New York Fed survey.

Business Insider asked three people who've made over $100,000 a year how becoming a six-figure-earner did — and didn't — change their lives and relationships. While it didn't make them feel rich, they said it reduced their financial-related stress by several notches. BI has verified their earnings.

Having money allows you to focus more on other things you care about

Cole H. Mattes made his first $100,000 in 2020 by selling thermometers on eBay, he told Business Insider via email. Last year, the 24-year-old entrepreneur, who's based in California, took home $250,000 as the owner and founder of the public relations agency Monarch Media.

Mattes said that making six figures "isn't really all that life-changing" but that the extra income has had two big benefits.

First, it's allowed him to worry much less about his finances and concentrate on other areas of his life.

"You start to focus on things that really matter, like traveling, dating, and cultivating important relationships," he said. "Once you no longer have to focus on hustling to pay for rent and other basic necessities, because you are no longer financially burdened, that is when life really starts because you can focus on the amazing things life has to offer."

Second, he said having money has opened doors for him in the business world.

"Successful people do business with other successful people," he said. "Money provides status, and that is the real value you get by becoming rich — not a new pair of jeans."

However, Mattes said that making more money can sometimes negatively impact relationships.

"When you become successful, you will lose friends and family who become jealous of your income," Mattes said. "Losing people might be hard, but it should really be looked at positively because those types of people don't want the best for you."

To be sure, while a $100,000 salary wouldn't be enough to put a person in the top 1% of their state's earners, it could be the difference between a financially vulnerable lifestyle and a secure one.

At least 32% of the population of every US state qualifies as an ALICE — asset limited, income constrained, employed — according to data from the nonprofit organization United Way. ALICEs are Americans who are struggling to pay the bills but make too much money to qualify for government assistance like food stamps.

For many of these people, a $100,000 salary could, in fact, be life-changing.

It can take years for the impacts of a six-figure income to be fully felt

For Maksim Sonin, a 38-year-old who said he first made $100,000 in 2017, crossing the six-figure threshold didn't feel particularly impactful because his income had grown steadily over time, he told Business Insider via email.

However, as Sonin's income rose well into the six-figures — he made over $200,000 in 2022 working in the oil and gas industry abroad — he said the benefits of his higher income have become more noticeable. He said it's allowed him to help pay for his brother's education, strengthen his finances, and enroll in graduate school — he's currently pursuing a master's degree at Stanford University.

While he's grateful for the perks and financial security that a higher income has provided, he said he wants to ensure that his children remain humble.

"They don't care much, nor are they even aware of how much money I began to earn after that pivotal $100,000 mark," he said.

Staying humble is something Joshua has focused on as well. Given he didn't grow up around a lot of money, he said learning how to wisely use his extra income has been a work in progress. While he's increased his discretionary spending a bit, he said he's put a lot of his extra income toward investments and side hustles.

Joshua, who made about $150,000 in 2023, said reaching six figures several years ago was a significant milestone, but that it took time for the benefits of his higher income to be fully realized.

"It was the consistency of earning over $100,000 that positioned me to be financially secure," he said.

Are you making over $100,000 a year? Are you willing to share your story and the impact this income has had on your life? If so, contact this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

• Researchers say Canadian super pigs, a cross of between domestic pigs and wild boars, could invade the US.
• They can withstand more cold than wild hogs, which already cause billions in damage in the South.
• Areas of four northern US states are the most likely to be invaded by super pigs, a new study found.

Researchers have warned that Canadian "super pigs" could soon invade the US, potentially causing millions of dollars in damage — and four states in particular are especially at risk.

The so-called super pigs are a cross between a domestic pig and an Eurasian wild boar, brought to Canada in the 1980s as a new exotic pork product. Farmers eventually bred the two types of swine to make pigs that were larger, more prolific, and could withstand cold Canadian winters.

But when the boar market collapsed in 2001, many of the pigs were let loose, leaving the wild, super-charged pigs to proliferate. Today, they are common in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and have been documented in most Canadian provinces.

"They are the worst invasive large mammal on the planet. Period," Ryan Brook, a wildlife researcher and professor at the University of Saskatchewan who has studied the pigs for over a decade, told Business Insider last year.

A study published this month in the journal Biological Invasions found that northeastern Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and western parts of Minnesota are the areas in the US most vulnerable to super pig occupation.

The researchers used data from GPS collars on feral pigs to follow their movement patterns and determine their invasion potential. They found the pigs were mostly located in forests, fields of crops, and wetlands. The pigs' apparent preferences and the opportunities for habitat connectivity indicate those areas of the northern US have "a high potential for invasive wild pigs" to move throughout them, the study said.

"Our work highlights a need for monitoring and science-based response strategies for likely southward spread of this invasive species to prevent or reduce potential crop damage, risks to native species, and disease transmission to humans, pets, livestock, and wildlife," the researchers wrote.

Brook called the super pigs an "environmental train wreck." They can grow to over 600 pounds and eat just about anything, preying on native species like frogs and salamanders, the eggs of ground-nesting birds like ducks and geese, and even white-tailed deer. They destroy agricultural crops, especially corn, by eating them or tearing up the ground to access plant roots and insect larvae. They also carry diseases that can infect animals and people.

The resulting destruction adds up. According to USDA estimates, feral pigs already cause $2.5 billion worth of damage to US agriculture annually.

Those pigs, located in California and throughout the South, primarily Texas and Florida, are confined to warmer climates. They're the descendants of pigs first brought to the Americas in the 1500s by Europeans as a food source and later escaped or were set loose. Feral swine in the US today includes domestic pigs, wild boar, and even crossbreeds between the two, but they are not adapted to colder temperatures.

If the Canadian super pigs can establish populations in the northern US, farmers in colder climates, like the Dakotas, Montana, and Minnesota, could soon be terrorized by feral swine, too.

Both Canada and the US have struggled to control their feral pig populations.

"Eliminating or exterminating pigs is not an option in most of their US territory. Limiting the damage to crops, ecosystems, and native species is the best course of action," according to USDA Forest Service researcher John Kilgo, who studies wild pigs in South Carolina.

Hunting, a common wildlife-management tool in the US, has been proposed as a solution, but Brooks said the super pigs reproduce too quickly for hunting to keep up and that they also adapt quickly and become more elusive.

So, regardless of what you've heard, it's unlikely you can shoot your way out of a super pig invasion.

Digital transformations have made an appreciable impact on society. Whether it's conspicuous guidance or subtle suggestion, technology influences our everyday decisions. Think about it: You landed on this very page because an algorithm willed it — via a social platform, a search result, or some other digital conduit.

Digital transformations have made an appreciable impact on society. Whether it's conspicuous guidance or subtle suggestion, technology influences our everyday decisions. Think about it: You landed on this very page because an algorithm willed it — via a social platform, a search result, or some other digital conduit.

This extensive development of information technology has disrupted just about every industry you can think of. It's gaining even more momentum with the help of innovations such as artificial intelligence, cloud tech, extended reality, and additive manufacturing.

Business Insider's ongoing series "Build IT" takes a deep dive into the technologies that are driving change across sectors, including banking, farming, fashion, music, sports, and more.

Read the stories ahead to learn how experts are using tech tools to improve companies of all sizes and create a world where IT and digital innovations have resounding authority.

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• Inflation has slowed in recent months, but prices are still high in many consumer categories.
• Heading into the summer, retailers are beginning to offer savings, especially in the grocery aisles.
• Here's a roundup of major stores slashing prices, including Amazon, Walmart, and Target.

The weather is heating up and inflation is cooling down, but prices are still high in many consumer categories.

Several years of price increases have left many household budgets in tight shape, with shoppers increasingly looking for deals on groceries and other essentials.

As we head into the summer, retailers are beginning to offer savings in a big way, with discounts of up to 30% on thousands of products.

Here's a roundup of major retailers slashing prices:

Amazon Fresh

Amazon announced it's dropping prices on about 4,000 items — some by up to 30% — at its Fresh chain, with discounts varying week-by-week in stores and online.

Walmart

Walmart US CEO John Furner said the retail giant has nearly 7,000 rollbacks going into the summer, a 45% increase over the count for the same time last year.

Target

Target announced it's cutting prices on 5,000 commonly purchased items throughout the summer that will collectively save shoppers "millions of dollars," CEO Brian Cornell said.

Walgreens

Walgreens said it would offer discounts on 1,300 products across health and wellness, personal care, and seasonal categories this summer. The pharmacy chain will also bring back promotional events including MyW Days in mid-July.

Costco

While Costco hasn't announced a large batch of seasonal cuts, the CFO Gary Millerchip said the wholesale club holds monthly budget meetings where the various regions share recent price cuts, such as the past quarter's markdowns on pine nuts and frozen shrimp.

Aldi

Discount grocer Aldi is lowering prices on more than 250 items, focused on picnic necessities, grilling essentials, travel-ready snacks, and healthier foods. The company says it will save shoppers up to $100 million through Labor Day.

• How do you know if you're in the right job or if it's time to quit?
• Bangaly Kaba, director of product at YouTube and alum of Facebook and Instagram, offers a framework.
• He assesses impact as a product of your work environment and skills. Here's how he breaks it down.

Choosing jobs is one of the most important decisions we make in our careers. There is, after all, plenty to consider when deciding whether to stay in your current job or leave for another.

In the famous words of The Clash, "Should I stay or should I go?"

Bangaly Kaba, Director of Product at YouTube, devised a way to capture all of the variables that go into such a big decision, helping to zero in on any problems and drive conviction in determining any changes. Prior to joining YouTube, Kaba had also worked at companies like Facebook, Instagram, and Instacart.

As he wrote in a blog post on the subject, Kaba follows a simple formula to help asses if he's in the right job or not.

Impact = Environment x Skills

"The impact is only achievable by looking at two sets of variables, a set of variables related to the environment, a set of variables related to your skills," he said on a recent episode of "Lenny's Podcast" while describing impact as the most important part of the framework.

Kaba said "most people overlook" their work environment when thinking about career decisions. He breaks this down broadly into six categories: resources, scope, team, company culture, compensation, and your manager, which he says is the most important of these.

Kaba said he reviews these every year, ranking each on a scale of zero to two, divided in increments of 0.25. Zero means he's "not in a good place," one is "neutral," and two means he's "greatly benefiting from this situation."

Every year he asks himself, "What is the state of each one of these and to what extent do I believe that they can and will change?" He stresses that it's important to be honest with yourself when making this evaluation.

As for skills, Kaba thinks of four buckets, which are "communication, your ability to influence your leadership, strategic thinking, and then execution." He views communication at work as the most impactful and says it's important to focus on the "consistent evolution of your abilities."

In doing his evaluations, Kaba looks for roadblocks and identifies what is and is outside his control in the job.

"You're really breaking down each and understanding what's happening in the environment bit by it and what's happening with your skills," he said. "Where are you hindered structurally within the environment? Where are your skills kind of lacking? What do you have control over?"

Kaba says developing this framework "came out of a personal struggle that I had when I was at Facebook and trying to decide what my next move should be."

"I knew that I needed a change, emotionally I understood that, but I couldn't really have an objective way of thinking about it," he said. "So I really pushed myself to figure out like what is actually going on with my situation, how do I create a way that I can rely on objectively to understand what is actually going on."

In his blog post on his framework, Kaba wrote that the goal shouldn't be to automate the decision-making process to spit out the right answer, but rather to "narrow the decision down to the true problem," which can "help build conviction behind a decision."

You can see his full step-by-step breakdown over on Reforge.

• New York City is facing its highest rate of homelessness since the Great Depression.
• One key way to get New Yorkers housed is through the housing voucher program. 
• But even those lucky enough to get a voucher are having a very hard time finding housing.

When Marc Greenberg founded a nonprofit in 1985 with the goal of helping homeless New Yorkers, there were about 20,000 people in city shelters. Today, the city is facing its highest rate of homelessness since the Great Depression.

And the biggest program to help those in need of homes — the federal housing voucher system — isn't keeping up.

About 150,000 people are sleeping in shelters, while more than 200,000 others are temporarily staying in other peoples' homes, crashing on couches and in basements, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.

A huge number of homeless New Yorkers are families. Almost 120,000 New York City schoolchildren were homeless at some point during the 2022-2023 school year. And an unknown number of other New Yorkers are spending their nights on the streets.

Just a few years before Greenberg started his organization — the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, which works with religious organizations to aid unhoused people — a court imposed a so-called "right to shelter" mandate requiring the city to provide a shelter bed for every unhoused person.

These days, the limits of that mandate are being tested as the homeless population has swelled, in part due to a significant influx of homeless migrants. With city shelters struggling, the government has set up more than 200 emergency shelters to house migrants, including in former jails and hotels.

"The nonprofit community is better at doing what we do than we've ever been before," Greenberg said. "We're also severely overworked and overtaxed."

It's no surprise that New York City is dealing with a homelessness crisis. Homelessness is, fundamentally, a housing problem. And the Big Apple has a dangerously low supply of both affordable and market-rate homes. The city has underbuilt homes for years, even as its population has boomed, creating 800,000 new jobs in the last 10 years while building just 200,000 new homes.

With rents and home prices sky-high, many are just a missed paycheck away from losing their homes. More than half of city residents are rent-burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their before-tax income for housing.

An inadequate solution

The country's biggest and most effective housing assistance program is helping get some unhoused New Yorkers into homes. New York City's housing authority operates the largest Housing Choice Voucher Program — also known as Section 8 —in the US, with about 85,000 voucher households and 25,000 landlords.

But the program is severely underfunded and need far outstrips the supply of vouchers in New York and across the country. Nationally, just one in four eligible Americans receive a voucher. About 10 million additional low-income households are going without the help they qualify for.

Greenberg's organization helped push to expand the city's voucher program, known as CityFHEPS. New York Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly rejected efforts to expand it, citing a lack of funds.

"We know that it's less expensive to put someone in housing than it is to have them on the street, have them in shelters, or at the hospital," Greenberg said.

Greenberg said he decided to seek out homeless voucher holders after hearing from those who'd had an excruciating time finding an apartment. "Two women who had already been housed using the vouchers said that the ordeal was so difficult, it was almost not worth it," he said. "A bell went off for me."

The Interfaith Assembly set up a pilot program about six months ago to help homeless voucher holders find homes. Their volunteers have worked with about a dozen people to determine what kind of assistance they need and help them find and secure a home. Greenberg said the work has exposed how much the most vulnerable voucher holders need an advocate to help them secure housing.

"Each situation is very particular and requires some real digging to figure out what's wrong," Greenberg said.

But the most difficult part, he said, is finding a new home.

Greenberg emphasized that the city needs more landlords who aren't just profit-driven and instead care about helping some needier New Yorkers.

"Until there's a large amount of available units, landlords are going to select someone that they feel is the best bet, and generally someone in a shelter is not going to make the cut unless it's a very substandard apartment," Greenberg said. "What we need to do is find landlords that really have a sense of mission to support this tenant."

One approach is to assure landlords that they're not taking a risk by accepting vouchers. Greenberg wants to see a city fund designated to reimburse landlords for any damages that exceed a voucher holder's security deposit as a way to encourage landlords to take voucher holders — something Oregon and Washington State have done.

"I've spoken to landlords who want housing voucher holders, who've experienced some real damage to their apartments," Greenberg said. "What we hope is for landlords to realize that the folks we're working with are in a support system, so they'll be more stable and less likely to be a bad tenant."

There are a slew of other Section 8 reforms housing advocates have proposed, including providing more logistical and cash assistance to voucher holders and shortening the home inspection process. Ultimately, though, nothing will make up for the dearth of both vouchers and housing.

• Christie's luxury handbag auction is underway, with some Hermès bags expected to fetch six figures.
• The auction highlights the high demand and limited supply of Birkins that drives up their value.
• Luxury handbags have become an investment piece akin to art or watches.

If you're in the market for a Hermès bag that doubles as a doll house, you're in luck — as long as you have $100,000 or so to spare.

Auction house Christie's launched its latest handbag auction on Thursday, and seven of the lots are expected to fetch prices in the six figures.

The most expensive bags are variations of the Hermès Birkin — and the estimated prices, all at heavy markups from retail, show the chokehold that the French house's hero product has on the luxury market.

A new Birkin bag starts at about $10,000 and can cost well into the six figures depending on material, size, and rarity. Each year, the company's artisans handmake a limited number of the style; in the luxury sector, that scarcity supercharges desire.

"It's literally economics 101," retail industry expert and consultant Hitha Herzog told Business Insider earlier this year. "When you have short supply and high, high demand and the branding that goes with it — that is what fuels it."

The brand's Faubourg Birkins are among those in the shortest supply and, thus, the most covetable. The bag's name refers to Hermès' Paris flagship on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, where the company has been based since 1880 when it was still primarily a saddlery.

A Neige Faubourg Birkin 20 boasts the auction's highest estimated price: $120,000 to $180,000. And it could go for much more. Since 2022, Hermès bags sold at Christie's auctions have gone for an average of 141% of the lowest estimated price, Christie's said.

The rare bag's design is reminiscent of the store's facade, with its three windows and iconic orange awnings. The light gray colorway, which is supposed to convey winter in Paris, is the most valuable of the models, given the amount of exotic alligator skin used in its construction. Last year, the same style sold for just over $280,000 at a Sotheby's auction, and in 2022, another went for more than $300,000.

The other two Faubourgs available in the Christie's auction, one blue and the other brown, are expected to go for between $100,000 and $150,000. A Birkin with white gold and diamond hardware has the same estimate. Hermès handbags, particularly those in pristine condition (aka new) and rare designs, have always commanded high prices in the resale market due to their exceptional craftsmanship, timeless appeal, and limited availability.

"They are often reflective of the rarity and desirability of the bags," Nicole Pollard Bayme, the founder of luxury styling firm Lalaluxe, told BI over email. "Hermès Birkin and Kelly bags, especially the Faubourg bag, for example, are iconic symbols of luxury and status, coveted by collectors worldwide."

As the auction demonstrates, luxury handbags — particularly those made by tightly controlled brands like Hermès — are increasingly worthy investments. The Neige Faubourg retails for about $50,000 and is expected to fetch two to three times that.

A 2022 Deloitte and Credit Suisse report found that value Birkin and Chanel bags had an average return of 38% and 11.8%, respectively, in 2020. That beats the average return rate of classic cars, watches, and fine art in the same year.

"Watches and jewelry as well as handbags (especially Chanel handbags) are clearly standing out as stores of value with low volatility (between 2.5% and 5% annually) and low drawdowns," the report's authors wrote.

For the resale premium, buyers gain immediate access to the bag of their choosing, something they typically can't get at an Hermès boutique.

While the "rules" around buying a Birkin directly from Hermès have never been disclosed — the company is currently embroiled in a legal battle around the practice — customers must often cultivate a yearslong spending history with the brand and relationships with sales associates. Even then, buyers don't often get to select a specific bag but are offered the opportunity to snag whichever one their sales associate can get their hands on.

"Most of our clients don't have the time or patience to play the 'Hermès game,'" Alexis Clarbour, who specializes in reselling luxury handbags at Madison Avenue Couture, told BI earlier this year.

While dozens of Birkins and Kellys (Hermès' other signature style) make up the auction's priciest lots, a couple of Louis Vuitton lots are expected to fetch at least $10,000. Both are limited editions from the brand's 2023 collaboration with artist Yayoi Kusama.

Chanel, Dior, Loewe, and Roger Vivier are also represented among the lots.

Last summer's handbag auction netted Christie's $4.1 million. Nine bags sold for over $100,000, with the top lot, a Kellywood, going for $176,400.

• Cheap Chinese EVs are unlikely to come to the US anytime soon after President Joe Biden hiked tariffs.
• But Tesla rivals are proving a hit in Brazil and Mexico, where auto exports are booming.
• Chinese EV companies are also eyeing expansion in Europe, but could face tariffs there too.

China's Tesla rivals have had the door to the US electric vehicle market slammed in their faces — so they're turning their attention to Brazil, Mexico, and Europe.

Exports of Chinese EVs to Brazil surged in the first four months of the year, with automakers like BYD continuing to expand abroad even as Joe Biden announces 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

Data from the China Passenger Car Association, reported by Reuters, showed that the number of China-made pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars exported to Brazil rose in April, growing 13-fold from the previous year to 40,163 units.

It saw Brazil become China's biggest foreign market for EVs for the second straight month.

Both BYD and rival Great Wall Motors are also planning factories in the South American nation.

Mexico has also seen a rapid rise in Chinese car sales, with total automobile exports, including combustion engine vehicles, jumping 27% in the first four months of this year, per Reuters.

Tesla's leading rival, BYD, unveiled its first pickup truck, a plug-in hybrid called the Shark, in Mexico in May.

The Warren Buffett-backed automaker, along with rival EV companies Chery and MG, is reportedly considering building a factory in Mexico — sparking anxieties among US lawmakers concerned about Chinese firms setting up shop in the US' largest trading partner.

China's legion of EV manufacturers are also eyeing Europe, one of Tesla's most important markets, as they seek to escape cutthroat competition back home.

BYD is building a factory in Hungary and plans to sell its $10,000 Seagull in Europe within the next few years. The company's executives said it would cost around 20,000 euros in this region.

Other Tesla rivals are also making moves, with Nio opening a new showroom in Amsterdam and Xpeng launching two SUVs, the G9 and G6, in Europe.

However, they might soon face a regulatory reckoning in Europe. The EU is currently investigating Chinese subsidies for EV companies and could impose its own tariffs if it finds China's electric vehicles are being sold at artificially low prices.

"If I were in the shoes of a European carmaker, I would be pushing the EU to impose tariffs because the price [of Chinese EVs] is too low, and they can't compete at this level of technology," Giacomo Carelli, CEO of Italian vehicle finance and insurance provider CA Auto Bank, said at the Financial Times' Future of the Car conference in May.

Established automakers in Europe are bracing for a bumpy road regardless of whether the EU follows President Joe Biden in cracking down on Chinese EVs — but some remain bullish about their chances.

"The reality is the Chinese are able to bring in vehicles at very competitive prices," said Michael Cole, CEO of Hyundai Motors Europe, at the Future of the Car summit.

"It is more challenging for us, but all it means is that we have to sharpen our act … We have to react to the competition, but we have to assume it's fair competition — that's all we ask for," he added.

• Recent studies have found that happiness and loneliness follow a U-shape throughout adults' lives.
• Happiness and loneliness both peak early and later in life, with a decline during middle age.
• BI spoke to adults who've been lonely and happy at the same time — and researchers who explain how that works.

Harry Samtur, 73, has a laundry list of activities to fill his time.

He takes classes through a program for adults over 50, is part of a biking group, participates in a book club, belongs to a synagogue, and is also an artist, with a show coming up in just a few weeks.

Those activities have been "totally essential" for his well-being, the Minnesota resident said.

"It's great, but it takes an effort," Samtur told Business Insider. "It's something that's very important that I do, and it brings me a lot of joy."

However, Samtur said he still finds himself experiencing loneliness from time to time. Living alone and far from his family, he said he doesn't have the close connections he had growing up, and even though he tries to fill his time with hobbies and social events, feelings of loneliness still emerge.

"When people have families, they have their loyalties to their families, and they're very busy with their families. So when you're alone, you don't always have people to do things with. So loneliness does come up," Samtur said.

An April paper published in the Psychological Science journal highlighted Samtur's exact predicament. According to the paper, loneliness follows a U-shaped curve throughout life— it's higher in younger and older adulthood and lowest during middle age.

Perhaps counterintuitively, happiness tends to follow the same pattern. That means that right now, Gen Z and baby boomers, in particular, might be experiencing a strange juxtaposition: They're happy and lonely at the same time.

Why it's possible to feel happy and lonely at the same time

Happiness and loneliness are "complex emotional experiences that are not mutually exclusive," Eileen Graham, a coauthor of the loneliness study and associate professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University, told BI. Graham's work was conducted before the pandemic and examined over 120,000 participants from nine different countries, including the US, Germany, and Australia.

"You can experience both at the same time, and especially during midlife, that's an emotionally complex time, and people have a lot going on," Graham said. "So people feel maybe a little less happy with their lives in midlife, but it doesn't mean you're also feeling lonely."

Happiness and loneliness can evolve over one's life — and it can impact anyone, anywhere, as the study found.

"Overall, people tended to be more lonely, just persistently lonely, if they had less education, had lower income, and poor health," Graham said.

"And that can help us understand as people enter into older adulthood and are typically just, on average, becoming more lonely anyways, people with certain health conditions or from different socio-economic backgrounds might be even more at risk," she said.

Samtur said that even with the joy he finds from his activities, he knows how detrimental loneliness can be and how hard it is to overcome.

"There's so much polarity, and it's sometimes hard to deal with people, and then you just want to stay home and hide in a corner," Samtur said. "And I know people who do that, but in the end, we're social beings, and we need to have that interaction and go through the difficult experiences with others in order to find the good ones."

'I could be in a room full of people who love me and still feel super lonely'

Donna Basztura, 58, has experienced waves of happiness and loneliness throughout her life. A teenage mom, she experienced joy from her partner and child, but loneliness persisted, as most of her peers were not at the same stage of life.

As Basztura got older, her experiences with loneliness shifted — she had five more kids she raised on her own, and her life is now full with her children and grandchildren. But after moving to Florida four years ago, she's found herself facing a persistent dilemma: she attends every event she's invited to, and she finds joy in being with others, but there's a feeling of loneliness that she just can't shake.

"I could be in a room full of people that love me and still feel super lonely because everyone has someone, their husband, their wife, and that's wonderful. That's what we strive to do for our legacy to leave behind," Basztura told BI. "But then you're still so lonely. I never act like I am. I'm so bubbly. I'm the life of the party. I make sure I'm having fun, but it's just that emptiness and loneliness feeling that really, really devastates a person."

As Samtur and Basztura's experiences illustrate, having social interactions isn't enough to absolve feelings of loneliness. Graham said that social isolation and loneliness "are very different constructs" — the former is measured by how often and how many people someone interacts with within a set period of time, whereas the latter is "an emotional distress" when a person isn't getting what they need out of their social connections.

Balancing loneliness and happiness is an issue researchers are studying. In March, Gallup — in partnership with other organizations — released the 2024 World Happiness Report, and for the first time since the report began over a decade ago, the US dropped out of the top 20 happiest countries.

The happiness report found that social support — meaning positive interactions with neighbors, community groups, or friends and family — and loneliness both affect happiness, and "social interactions of all kinds also add to happiness, in addition to their effects flowing through increases in social support and reductions in loneliness," it said.

"Weak ties," which are small connections people make with others they might not know very well — say, an acquaintance at your gardening club or a barista at your regular coffee shop — can contribute to feelings of happiness but don't necessarily help cure loneliness. However, a 2014 study found that weak ties do have major benefits, helping people feel happier with a boosted sense of belonging.

Basztura wants more than just the weak ties she has in Florida; she's happiest when she's surrounded by loved ones and those who know her very well, like her family. Though she's recently met a man who she enjoys spending time with, she finds herself alone throughout the day due to his work schedule. On top of that, she said a few of her close friends died during the pandemic, so she's lacking female friendships that played a significant role in boosting her happiness throughout her life.

"It's tough when you don't have an actual partner that you can rely on at our age and have gone through the things in life we've gone through in the era we were raised in. And you're just going forward. You're flying by the night pretty much by yourself," Batszura said. "And that emotion, it's really deep. It's really deep. I hide it well, but it's deep."

She made an effort to join clubs focused on fitness, like hiking or kayaking, but even surrounded by people, she didn't quite feel the connections she was hoping for.

"I could find enjoyment, I could find happiness, in swimming, camping, whatever," she said. "But again, I'm camping by myself. So the loneliness is absolutely still there."

'You have to solve it and figure out the best way for you'

BI has previously reported on how people across different generations experience loneliness. Over a third of Americans aged 18 to 25 reported feeling lonely in a December 2023 survey conducted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Some Gen Zers pay for social connections through activities like fitness memberships. One 24-year-old previously told BI that he spends over $200 a month for memberships at rock-climbing and jujitsu gyms because "if you pay for something, you'll show up to it."

"These types of activities ease the process of making friends more so than free activities because they tend to be more structured," he said. "Basically, you're stuck together with everyone else there and forced into new social situations."

Other Gen Zers have used the return-to-office as a way to facilitate connections and counter loneliness. A 23-year-old told BI that even though she was in "constant communication" with her coworkers, the online work environment meant that she "didn't actually have people around me who were willing and able to chat and talk and help."

Preeti Malani, a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, previously told Business Insider that "being lonely as an 80-year-old may be due to a very different reason than someone who is a 19-year-old college student living amongst a huge group of people."

"You can be surrounded by people and be lonely," she said. "And that college experience or high school experience is a good example where you don't have the meaningful connections with people."

Meanwhile, older adults have turned to apps like Nextdoor and groups at local senior centers to make connections in their areas.

While people of all ages are working to make friends and combat loneliness, Graham said, the problem could be easier to solve at a younger age. That's because a lot of the reasons for loneliness when people are younger, like moving out of their parent's home and trying to build a new social network, are steps that will set up a foundation for later in life.

"I don't necessarily think that loneliness is bad in younger adulthood as long as it's not chronic and doesn't begin to naturally mitigate itself," Graham said.

But for older people, loneliness can be sparked by loved ones dying or social networks moving away, and it's harder for them to stay engaged after facing those losses. Joan Hendrix, 80, can attest. She told BI that after her husband died 10 years ago, she "could not function" due to her grief and the loss of companionship, and while she sought out professional help, she felt that she couldn't burden her loved ones with her feelings of loneliness.

She said that for about four years, she couldn't bring herself to go out and meet new people — that is until she looked out her window one day and saw weeds in her flower garden.

"So I said, 'Oh, I've got to go weed.' And so one day, I just went out and started weeding, and each day after that, I seemed to be able to move and do more things," Hendrix said.

Hendrix said she gradually became more comfortable reaching out to her friends and reestablishing relationships, as well as making new ones through various groups and volunteer opportunities. There are still moments when Hendrix feels lonely, but the overarching emotion she now experiences is joy.

"You learn to cope, and then after a while, you still might struggle, but you're able to cope with it, and you go along, and you do things that you need to do to get better and be happy again," she said.

Hendrix said that recognizing that she was facing both happiness and loneliness is what pushed her to seek help and make connections.

"You have to do a lot of work on your own to get better," Hendrix said. "Nobody can solve it for you. You have to solve it and figure out the best way for you."

Have you experienced happiness and loneliness at the same time or separately? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@insider.com.

• Some restaurant chains and franchisees have increased prices in California to cover a new pay law there.
• Restaurants from Starbucks to Chipotle have marked up menu prices since the law took effect on April 1.
• Other chains have found alternatives to offset the higher wage costs.

Many fast food workers in California have been taking home more money since April 1, when the state's minimum wage for those workers went to $20 an hour.

But restaurant owners, eager to protect profits, have raised the menu prices that consumers pay to help offset the cost.

Often, fast-food joints are operated by franchisees — business owners who run a small group of stores and pay a company like McDonald's for the right to do so. That means that individual franchisees may choose to pass on the higher pay costs, while others don't.

California's new law applies to chains with at least 60 "limited-service" locations in the US — that is, restaurants where customers order and pay for their food before getting it instead of sitting down and being waited on.

But even before the new law, fast food already had an affordability problem.

Indeed, some restaurant operators say they've already raised prices more than usual over the last year or two in response to inflation and are worried that another round of increases would scare off customers. One Burger franchisee told BI that he's instead installing ordering kiosks at his restaurants to save money on wages.

Lynsi Snyder, the president and third-generation owner of In-N-Out, told NBC's "Today" earlier this month that she pushed to limit menu price increases in response to both higher wages as well as general inflation.

"I was sitting in VP meetings going toe-to-toe, saying, 'We can't raise the prices that much, we can't,'" she told "Today." "When everyone else was taking jumps, we weren't."

Here are the restaurants — and specific franchisees — who have decided to raise menu prices since California's new minimum age kicked in:

McDonald's: Scott Rodrick, who owns 18 Northern California McDonald's restaurants, said he would raise prices. He was also considering changing his stores' hours and postponing planned dining room renovations to save money.

Individual franchisees make their own decision about increasing prices, the company told The Los Angeles Times.

Burger King: Burger King restaurants in California raised prices by 2%, according to a report from Kalinowski Equity Research that examined prices at several fast food chains in the state before and after April 1.

Chipotle: Prices at the Mexican grill chain rose 7.5% in California after the law took effect, per the Kalinowski report. Company executives confirmed this on a late April earnings call, saying that the company increased prices between 6% and 7% at its restaurants in the state versus one year earlier.

Wendy's: Menu prices at Wendy's rose 8% in California, according to Kalinowski.

Starbucks: Beverages at Starbucks' California stores were 50 cents more expensive after April 1, BI reported after the law took effect. The Seattle-based coffee chain's California stores raised by 7%, according to Kalinowski.

Taco Bell: Menu prices rose 3% after the new wage law took effect, Kalinowski found.

Fatburger: Marcus Walberg, whose family runs four Fatburger franchises in Los Angeles, told BI in January that he was planning to raise prices between 8% and 10% in response to the new wage law. He also planned to cut PTO for employees and freeze hiring, he said.

Vitality Bowls: Brian Hom, the franchisee in charge of two Vitality Bowls locations in San Jose, increased prices between 5% and 10% after the law took effect, he told BI. He has also stopped hiring and reduced the number of workers on duty per shift.

Chick-fil-A: Prices rose 10.6% between mid-February and mid-April, according to data from Gordon Haskett.

Shake Shack: The burger chain hiked prices 7.7% in California between mid-February and mid-April, Gordon Haskett found.

Do you work at a fast food restaurant and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com