According to new discoveries in positive psychology, conditions in your life can make you happier or unhappier, but usually you eventually get used to them. Money has shown to bring long term happiness only when it makes it possible to live just above your needs, anything more will not make you lastingly happier.
HOWEVER, there ARE conditions that people never adjust to:
1). long commutes to and from work. People who commute arrive at work with higher levels of stress hormones, than people who don't commute.
2) noise: especially irregular noise like living on a busy street
3) relationship conflict: people tend to stay upset and angry for hours, days (or longer) even when the other person isn't around.
Will this move make you happier in the long run? To figure that out, you have to think past the conditions such as money or the state you'll live in.
Voluntary Activities are where people can actually affect the biggest change in their overall happiness:
Do you have more friends or social contacts in MI or in TN?
Can you pursue your free-time interests/hobbies more actively in one place or the other?
Will the higher pay enable you to do things for yourself that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise? (i.e. take a course or learn a new skill/hobby.)
Buying a new guitar is a condition that can make you happy for a while, but paying for a music course or having more money/time to invest in playing your music will make you lastingly happier.
Also the amount of control you have in your life/job is a factor that has been proven (far more than money) to make people more or less satisfied. Will your new job/move provide you with more or less or the same control over how you work/live?
So what if it was your goal to end up in Tennessee?? -- You ended up there (goal achieved), now you can move again.
Tennessee will still be there later if you need it!
No one can tell you what is the better choice, but IMO you are WAY too young to "end up" anywhere permanently!
Good luck!
