If you looked at the best jobs in America, you might be led to believe that money buys happiness -- at least where careers are concerned.

Each year, the job-search company Glassdoor compiles a list of the 25 best jobs. At the top of the list this year are data scientist, tax manager, solutions architect and engagement manager -- and they all boast salaries of more than $100,000.

The emphasis on salary “shouldn’t be a surprise,” said Scott Dobroski, a community expert at Glassdoor. “Salary is tied into all of our livelihoods.”

In fact, salary and compensation is the single most sought-after quality of a new job based on Glassdoor research; 68% of job seekers consider it.

But as Nobel-prize winning Princeton economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman famously found, workers’ day-to-day happiness rises until they reach a $75,000 salary, at which point their happiness plateaus.

And a look at Glassdoor’s methodology shows that salary is only one of the important criteria it used. The company gives each job a score based on three factors: the number of job openings, the salary, and the career opportunity associated with each job. The highest salary on the list was $135,000, for a software development manager, and the lowest was $69,548, for a technical account manager.

Table: The 10 best jobs in America

Job Job openings Median base salary Career opportunity Job score 1. Data scientist 1,736 $116,840 4.1 4.7 2. Tax manager 1,574 $108,000 3.9 4.7 3. Solutions architect 2,906 $119,500 3.5 4.6 4. Engagement manager 1,356 $125,000 3.8 4.6 5. Mobile developer 2,251 $90,000 3.8 4.6 6. HR manager 3,468 $85,000 3.7 4.6 7. Physician assistant 3,364 $97,000 3.5 4.6 8. Project manager 6,607 $106,680 3.3 4.5 9. Software engineer 49,270 $95,000 3.3 4.5 10. Audit manager 1,001 $95,000 3.9 4.5 Methodology: The Glassdoor Job Score is determined by weighting three factors equally: earning potential (median annual base salary), career opportunities rating, and number of job openings. Results represent job titles that rate highly among all three categories. The Glassdoor Job Score is based on a 5-point scale (5.0=best job, 1.0=bad job).

Also see: All 25 of the best jobs in America.

The next-most important factors in ranking a job were location and commute, which 59% consider, benefits and perks (57%), work/life balance (51%), hours spent working each week and number of tasks assigned (46%), career growth opportunities (38%) and company reputation (34%).

Sam Culbert, a professor of management and organizations at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, who has written several books including “Get Rid of the Performance Review,” said according to his research, satisfaction with one’s boss has a significant impact on job satisfaction.

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“I don’t think there’s many people who believe the person making the most money won the game,” he said.

The vast majority of millennial workers (71%) said doing work that was meaningful to them was among the three most important factors determining career success, with 30% saying meaningful work was the single most important factor, according to a survey of 500 U.S. adults by DeVry University’s Career Advisory Board conducted in 2011. And 27% said high pay was most important.

Gallup this month found that 44% of employees say they would consider taking a job with a different company for a raise of 20% or less. But the number is different for those who are “disengaged” in their company and those who are “engaged,” which Gallup defines as being involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to work and the workplace.

Many more disengaged employees (54%) would consider leaving for a raise of 20% or less, whereas 37% of engaged employees would consider leaving.

“Money is only a motivator for a short period of time, and it becomes not enough,” said Shawn Murphy, the chief executive and founder of Switch and Shift, a company that helps other organizations navigate workplace culture changes, and the author of “The Optimistic Workplace.”

“If we’re only judging a job by how much it pays, it’s seemingly cutting out another important element,” he said. “We’re seeing more and more what people are wanting, which is some sort of fulfillment in their job.”