We’re in a state of low savings.
Depending on what state you choose to retire in, you could need anywhere from $666,000 to upward of $2 million saved. And that’s outside of what you get from your Social Security checks.
Those figures are according to an analysis released Thursday by personal finance site GoBankingRates, which estimated how much money you’ll need to save to retire in every state in America. To determine this, the site looked at the estimated average annual expenditures of a typical retired person in each state and then subtracted that from the average annual Social Security check. It assumed retirees would be drawing down savings by 4% each year and the money would last 26 years.
The cheapest state to retire in, according to their calculations, was Mississippi, where you’ll need about $667,000 to retire. That’s thanks, in part, to low housing and transportation costs. That’s followed by Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Meanwhile, Hawaii will set you back the most, upward of $2 million — as costs there on everything from food to utilities to transportation to health care are high, the analysis found. California, Oregon and New York were also very pricey.
How much you’ll need in each state to retire
Mississippi: $666,772
Oklahoma: $687,116
Arkansas: $697,288
Kansas: $703,645
Tennessee: $707,460
New Mexico: $720,175
Alabama: $723,989
Missouri: $725,261
Michigan: $732,890
Georgia: $737,976
Indiana: $745,605
West Virginia: $754,505
Nebraska: $758,320
Texas: $762,134
Iowa: $767,220
Ohio: $772,306
Louisiana: $773,578
Kentucky: $774,849
Idaho: $797,736
North Carolina: $797,736
South Carolina: $801,551
Illinois: $804,094
Wisconsin: $811,723
Utah: $815,537
South Dakota: $819,352
North Dakota: $820,623
Florida: $843,510
Arizona: $862,583
Minnesota: $871,483
Pennsylvania: $874,026
Virginia: $885,470
Wyoming: $889,284
Nevada: $899,456
Colorado: $908,357
New Hampshire: $956,674
Delaware: $960,488
Montana: $963,031
Washington: $1,003,719
Vermont: $1,060,937
Maine: $1,083,824
Rhode Island: $1,099,082
New Jersey: $1,174,100
Connecticut: $1,184,272
Alaska: $1,213,517
Maryland: $1,238,947
Massachusetts: $1,249,119
New York: $1,308,879
Oregon: $1,334,309
California: $1,369,911
Hawaii: $2,151,884
Source: GoBankingRates
Of course, these are just estimates — and the city or town you choose to live in will also impact these numbers. And, to be safe, you’ll want to save more in case your expenses are higher than average or you have a longer than expected lifespan.
However, many of us are far from having saved these amounts. A study by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found that the median retirement savings by age in the U.S. is $16,000 for people in their 20s, $45,000 in their 30s, $63,000 in their 40s, $117,000 in their 50s, and $172,000 in their 60s.
But don’t panic if you’re nowhere near your goal. There’s plenty you can do to save more, including examining your budget to see where you can make cuts in spending, ensuring you are getting at least the match from your employer and ideally more, and upping contributions every time you get a raise.
