Cost of Retiring Comfortably in every State

[target2019]

"41. New Jersey

A comfortable retirement costs:*$75,861.19 a year

High housing costs make New Jersey one of the states where it costs most to live a comfortable retirement. Annual per capita spending on housing ranks 55% above the national average."
For areas north, that could be correct. In South Jersey, property costs will be less. As pointed out in well-documented reply above, there are now certain tax breaks that the article may not have considered.

On the income side, there are a fair number of retirees with public and private pensions. Getting 75k of retiree income may be an average in the state.

 

[Andre1969]

"41. New Jersey

A comfortable retirement costs:*$75,861.19 a year

High housing costs make New Jersey one of the states where it costs most to live a comfortable retirement. Annual per capita spending on housing ranks 55% above the national average."
For areas north, that could be correct. In South Jersey, property costs will be less. As pointed out in well-documented reply above, there are now certain tax breaks that the article may not have considered.

On the income side, there are a fair number of retirees with public and private pensions. Getting 75k of retiree income may be an average in the state.

It's interesting that the Jersey average comes in a bit cheaper than Maryland. Having lived in Maryland all my life, for some reason we got it drilled into our heads, how expensive it is to live in Jersey. But, I guess it just goes to show, you have to take these state averages with a grain of salt.

Funny thing is, I never realized how "expensive" Maryland supposedly is, until I started reading these types of articles that rank the states according to cost averages. And, a few years back, I do remember hearing people say that "Nobody retires TO Maryland".

 

[target2019]

It's interesting that the Jersey average comes in a bit cheaper than Maryland. Having lived in Maryland all my life, for some reason we got it drilled into our heads, how expensive it is to live in Jersey. But, I guess it just goes to show, you have to take these state averages with a grain of salt.

Funny thing is, I never realized how "expensive" Maryland supposedly is, until I started reading these types of articles that rank the states according to cost averages. And, a few years back, I do remember hearing people say that "Nobody retires TO Maryland".

Large difference between North Jersey (NYC) and South Jersey (Phila/DelMarVa). I know NJ residents who retired to Upper Chesapeake area. Yes, it was about boating!

To be honest, only tiny Delaware should be a destination, if you need lower tax situation.

 

[tmm99]

The numbers seem rather high to me.

 

[pb4uski]

Saw this article. Agree or Disagree based on your State. Im in NC and that number is ok.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/comfortable-retirement-cost-every-state-090000149.html

Seems in the ballpark for our states.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

This number must be for a couple but we are still living on less than half.

 

[GenXguy]

This number must be for a couple but we are still living on less than half.

The article in the OP says, "to determine how much an individual would need to retire comfortably for one year and 20 years in each state."

But the other article https://www.marketwatch.com/story/t...ire-well-in-every-state-in-america-2019-06-19 that has the same costs for the states, says, "the average over-65 household will spend nearly $50,000 a year. "

So, we've got individual vs. household, and "need to retire comfortably" vs. "average will spend".

 

[FANOFJESUS]

The article in the OP says, "to determine how much an individual would need to retire comfortably for one year and 20 years in each state."

But the other article https://www.marketwatch.com/story/t...ire-well-in-every-state-in-america-2019-06-19 that has the same costs for the states, says, "the average over-65 household will spend nearly $50,000 a year. "

So, we've got individual vs. household, and "need to retire comfortably" vs. "average will spend".

The Median household income in the US is around 53.5k and these folks are not retired. I think these retirement numbers are off.

 

[kilgore]

The article is rubbish. Use the Fed Survey of Consumer Finances as a starting point.

 

[HI Bill]

51. Hawaii - A comfortable retirement costs: $117,724.18 a year.

Hawaii has one of the lowest property tax rates. There are so many variables here...like health care, age, whether the house is paid off....

With a house paid off, a reasonable or no HOA (<$1K/mo), I could live very well in Hawaii for less than half that (and I do!). With a 20-year retirement timespan, the author must believe you're retiring at 65 or later, with a mortgage!

 

[gooddog]

Comparing states, and saying this one is expensive & this one is not is useless. Except for Hawaii - it is expensive no matter what. Have a house on the beach in California, and a house on the beach in Florida. California is more expensive for some things, Florida for others. Having lived in eight states, the biggest difference is in the taxes and fees each state has. California is outrageous with taxes/fees, Florida is cheap.

 

[watchman3135]

Still wondering how my state of Illinois ranks #22 with it being ranked almost the highest in the nation in property taxes. The only plus is other than property taxes, Illinois is friendly to retirees as it doesn't tax retirement income.

 

[steveark]

Reasonably fair

I live in Arkansas, one of the cheapest places. But it has tremendous advantages for outdoors types. Instead of slogging through crowds at Yosemite my wife and I have to carry a satellite emergency beacon because when we hike beautiful mountain trails we rarely see other people.

I think the numbers are all lower than my idea of comfort. We spend almost twice the $54k number listed for Arkansas in our retirement and our kids are grown. We have no debt, rent or mortgage and drive older cars. But we pay nearly $20k for health insurance, more if you add in our long term care insurance. We do travel alot and have lots of active outdoor hobbies that have some costs but generally we are not big spenders considering we are relatively wealthy and could afford to spend three times what we do now.

 

[IMATERP]

The problem is the article didn't link to the website where they pulled the data. I know the link was posted on this forum somewhere as I had used it to pull up a few locations and I still have the table in an excel spreadsheet but no link.

This article assumes 20% over a couple w/ mortgage, but if they had linked to the actual data site you can see you can drill down by county and it is broken into single/married w/wo mortgage which is much more useful.

Jurisdiction	Household	HousingStatus	HealthStatus	Housing	Food	Transportation	HealthCare	Miscellaneous	IndexPerMonth	IndexPerYear
North Carolina, Durham County	Single Elder	Owner w/o Mortgage	Good	469	256	240	382	269	1616	19392
North Carolina, Durham County	Single Elder	Renter, one bedroom	Good	752	256	240	382	269	1899	22788
North Carolina, Durham County	Single Elder	"Owner w/
Mortgage"	Good	1342	256	240	382	269	2489	29868
North Carolina, Durham County	Elder Couple	Owner w/o Mortgage	Good	469	470	371	764	415	2489	29868
North Carolina, Durham County	Elder Couple	Renter, one bedroom	Good	752	470	371	764	415	2772	33264
North Carolina, Durham County	Elder Couple	"Owner w/
Mortgage"	Good	1342	470	371	764	415	3362	40344

I’m with you on this. Wife and I are a married couple with no mortgage. We both deposit 15k per year to a joint account to cover our fixed costs. Then we each fund our discretionary costs separately. In my case it is much lower than 15k - solely by choice. Thus, I can see where 30k (per person) in NC would be considered average.

 

[Shardo]

South Carolina's low transportation costs might explain the horrendous condition on the roads here.

 

[volfan]

Yes the SC roads are ridiculous! But the auto insurance is extremely high!!