This study investigates the influence of domestic and international tourism participation on life happiness over an extended period. Employing a panel dataset encompassing 3,128 U.S. counties from 2011 to 2019, we conduct an econometric analysis to elucidate this impact and explore moderating factors. The findings reveal that domestic tourism participation significantly enhances residents’ life happiness, while international tourism participation exhibits statistical insignificance. Furthermore, housing costs, educational attainment, and leisure participation emerge as moderators influencing this effect. Notably, the impact of domestic tourism participation is more pronounced in counties with higher housing costs, elevated educational attainment, and lower leisure participation rates. Our results are substantiated through various robustness checks, reinforcing their general validity. Lastly, we discuss the implications of these findings.