Credit: Investopedia Key Takeaways
A single retiree needs about $898,000 in savings on average to afford a comfortable retirement in the U.S.
The average retiree spends roughly $60,000 a year, with Social Security covering only about $24,000 of that amount.
Housing is the biggest variable, with annual costs for retirees ranging from about $7,000 in West Virginia to more than $19,000 in California.
Americans told Northwestern Mutual surveyors this year they’d need $1.5 million to retire comfortably. But for a single person retiring at 65, the real number is often far lower.
A single American age 65 or older can retire comfortably with about $898,000 in savings, according to a new Investopedia analysis of U.S. Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Social Security Administration (SSA) data. But that figure varies widely by location, ranging from roughly $644,000 in North Dakota to more than $1 million in New Jersey, Hawaii, California, and the District of Columbia.
What retirees actually spend on housing, insurance, travel, and more tells a clearer story for anyone trying to determine if their nest egg will provide them a comfortable retirement.
How Much a Single American Needs for a Comfortable Retirement
The average American 65 or older living alone spent about $59,600 in 2024, according to the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey. Beyond housing and groceries, that includes many of the discretionary extras associated with a comfortable retirement—such as $3,000 on entertainment, about $2,800 on dining out, and hundreds more on travel.
For a single retiree, Social Security covers only part of that cost. The average retired-worker benefit was $1,975 a month in December 2024, according to the SSA, or about $23,700 a year.
That leaves roughly $35,900 that must come from retirement savings. Assuming a 4% annual withdrawal rate—a conventional rule of thumb—a retiree would need a nest egg of about $898,000 to generate that income, on average.
That compares to about $1.16 million that a typical couple would need.
The Most and Least Expensive States for Single Retirees
If you’re retiring on your own, the amount you’ll need varies widely depending on where you choose to live. Required savings range from roughly $644,000 in the least expensive states to more than $1 million in the costliest, according to Investopedia’s analysis.
The four most expensive places for single retirees all require nest eggs topping $1 million: New Jersey ($1.02 million), Hawaii ($1.02 million), California ($1.01 million), and the District of Columbia ($1.01 million). New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Hampshire follow in the roughly $915,000 to $950,000 range.
Story Continues
The most affordable states are concentrated in the Plains and Appalachia. North Dakota requires the least savings at about $644,000, followed by Arkansas ($648,000), Mississippi ($653,000), West Virginia ($658,000), and Iowa ($667,000).
Housing is the biggest reason retirement costs vary so much from state to state. For Americans 65 and older living alone, housing expenses—including mortgage or rent payments, insurance, property taxes, and utilities—account for about 27% of annual spending on average. Those costs run as low as $7,000 a year in West Virginia and as high as $19,000 in California.
The cost of goods and services—including groceries, gas, and lawn care—doesn’t vary as much as housing, but the differences can still add up. In Hawaii, prices run about 6% above the national average, while South Dakota’s are roughly 7% below.
How We Calculated Retirement Costs in Every State
The method of our analysis matters not just for transparency; it also shows where you might fall within these averages. Since the estimates are based on average spending patterns, your own retirement costs may be higher or lower depending on where you live and how you spend.
For this analysis, “comfortable” means the average spending level of Americans age 65 and older living alone—not a bare-bones budget or the median retiree’s expenses. That includes discretionary spending on things such as travel, restaurants, entertainment, and alcohol. Retirees who spend at the median typically need 15% to 20% less than the amounts shown. Excluded from the analysis: state income tax on retirement income, long-term care, and local senior property-tax exemptions.
We analyzed all 50 states and the District of Columbia using four federal datasets from 2024, the most recent year for which all were available. For each state, we calculated four components:
Housing costs: From the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey (1-Year Estimates), we identified the share of single householders age 65 and older who had a mortgage, owned their homes free and clear, or rented. We then calculated average housing costs using each group’s median monthly expenses and their share of the 65-and-older population.
Nonhousing spending: We used spending data for Americans age 65 and older living alone from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2024 Consumer Expenditure Survey. We removed housing expenses and adjusted the remaining costs using the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ 2024 Regional Price Parities for goods and services.
Social Security offset: We subtracted the national average retired-worker benefit from the Social Security Administration’s Annual Statistical Supplement. In December 2024, that benefit averaged $1,975 a month, or about $23,700 a year. We used the national figure rather than state averages because state-level Social Security data reflect retirees’ lifetime earnings histories, not necessarily where they currently live. Many retirees collect benefits earned while working in other states.
Nest egg required: We multiplied the remaining annual gap by 25, the lump sum implied by the traditional 4% safe withdrawal rule.
Note that the analysis excludes state taxes on retirement income (which vary widely by state), long-term care costs, and potential senior property-tax exemptions offered by some communities.
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