How much you need to comfortably retire by state

**disneysteve** · 2026-10-21T11:01:10-05:00

These sorts of articles are always all but worthless. States are big places with a broad range of living situations and cost of living. I don’t know if it’s still true but at one point NJ was home to both the richest and poorest towns in America. The amount you needed to retire in one was dramatically different than in the other. Just looking at a state average would tell you nothing.

What really matters is your own personal spending. That’s what determines how much you need to retire no matter where you live.

**Fishindude77** · 2026-10-21T12:38:47-05:00

I agree, not much to learn from the article.

We live in a low cost of living area and rather rural and it always amazes me how some folks manage to get along pretty well on very little income.
They have simple no frills paid for homes, older paid for autos, eat all their meals at home, garden. heat with wood, etc. They don't take fancy vacations or travel much but are content doing simple stuff like camping, fishing, cooking out, sitting around a campfire or going to little league or HS ball game. Antenna TV's, simple cell phones, basic appliances, fix their own stuff when it breaks, do their own home maintenance, etc.

**disneysteve** · 2026-10-21T12:59:15-05:00

Originally posted by Fishindude77 View Post

We live in a low cost of living area and rather rural and it always amazes me how some folks manage to get along pretty well on very little income.
They have simple no frills paid for homes, older paid for autos, eat all their meals at home, garden. heat with wood, etc. They don't take fancy vacations or travel much but are content doing simple stuff like camping, fishing, cooking out, sitting around a campfire or going to little league or HS ball game. Antenna TV's, simple cell phones, basic appliances, fix their own stuff when it breaks, do their own home maintenance, etc.

And I'll bet there are major metro areas in your state where things are quite different, so the state average paints a very distorted picture.

**myrdale** · 2026-10-21T14:14:10-05:00

I hate to say it but it is a garbage click bait article.

The very title "How Much Do You Need To Retire Comfortably by Every State". So..... how much does it take to retire comfortably in Alabama? Georgia? New York? Nebraska? Who knows because they don't actually tell you.

There is a nice color coded map, with no ledger.

The article does go on to state a single retiree needs $572k to $909k.

The article also mentions that 80% of households where the head of household is over 65 own a house, and 66% of them own the house debt free.

At the bottom there is a link to the original article that article was based on. It is a little better.

https://www.investopedia.com/how-much-you-need-to-retire-comfortably-with-a-paid-off-home-in-every-state-12160131

How much you need to comfortably retire by state