This guide aims to teach you about NPC happiness, and how they should be housed in order to provide optimal outcomes. Note that this guide will contain a full list of NPCs and as such should not be viewed by people who wish to avoid spoilers.

Additionally, all of this information is direct from the wiki, I am simply porting it over to the steam client so you can open it up in game, rather than having to close / tab out of the game and search it up. Links will be provided to the respective wiki pages at the end if you wish to further your knowledge.

NPC happiness is a very important feature added with the 1.4 update that has a few rewards for keeping your NPCs happy.

The first of which is the ability to purchase pylons from happy town NPCs. Pylons work as wireless teleporters as long as you have at least 2 NPCs at both the primary (the pylon you are at) and the secondary (the pylon you wish to go to) pylons. This allows quick access all around your world. However, pylons cannot be used if there is a immediate threat in the world, such as a boss, or an event, so keep that in mind before rushing to one to try and escape.

The second is NPC shop prices. If an NPC is happy, they will reward you with a discounted price for items that they sell (if applicable). On the other hand, an unhappy NPC will increase the sale price of their items. Both of which are determined by who and what they are surrounded by.

The following table shows each NPCs housing preferences. All portions that are x / x are listed in the same format as the title. For example, if the Liked / Disliked Biomes states Forest / Ocean, the NPC likes the forest, but dislikes the ocean. Same goes for all other titles using the same format.




The Princess is the only exception to these preferences. All NPCs like the Princess, and she does not have any likes or dislikes for both other NPCs and biomes. It is suggested to put her in an area that will not cause more than 4 NPCs to be within close proximity of each other.

In order to get the benefits from both pylons, and all NPC price cuts, the following is the ideal way to house the NPCs according to the wiki. The slash (/) indicates that the next set of NPCs are 25 blocks (at least) away from the other set.

Forest: Golfer + Zoologist / Merchant

Snow: Mechanic + Goblin TInkerer / Steampunker + Cyborg

Desert: Arms Dealer + Nurse

Caverns: Tax Collector + Clothier / Tavernkeep + Demolitionist

Ocean: Angler + Pirate / Stylist + Dye Trader

Jungle: Dryad + Witch Doctor / Painter

Hallow: Wizard + Party Girl

Surface Glowing Mushroom: Guide + Truffle

The Princess can go in any biome, with any NPCs. Ideally, you would house her in an area not exceeding 4 NPCs, such as the forest. If placed in the forest for example, she would be housed near the Merchant, rather than the Golfer or Zoologist. This applies to all other biomes she could be housed in.

Similarly, Santa would just go alone in his own house in the snow biome.

Additionally, it is recommended to house pets (purchased via the Zoologist throughout the game) in spots with only 2 NPCs to allow for pylons to continue working in the event an NPC goes missing, or is killed.

That concludes this hopefully straightforward guide to NPC happiness and optimal placement.
As previously stated, this information comes direct from the wiki and can be found here[terraria.fandom.com], and here[terraria.fandom.com]. Both links will provide a more insightful look into NPC happiness, however hopefully this guide will be enough to get you though the world of Terraria an its vast amount of NPCs.

Finally, I want to add a link to a Steam Workshop item created by jawsawn (unless they have changed their name since the time of you reading this) that specifically helps with this exact topic. It can be found here: NPC Happiness Helper. Thank you for the comments for pointing this workshop item out to me!

Also as it would turn out, tables are a bit annoying to do for steam guides, so I would appreciate if you would like and favourite this guide if you are so inclined, as it is free to do, and it shows whether what I have created is good or not.

Hell, if you're so inclined to give this guide an award, I appreciate that, however that is not necessary.

Thank you all for reading and good luck on your journey.