The average American needs nearly $6,000 more than last year to afford a comfortable life. Here’s how much you’d need in every state, according to a new report.
WASHINGTON — The cost of living is rising in the United States and many people are finding that maintaining a comfortable lifestyle takes significantly more income than it did in the past.
To put a number on how much it costs Americans to live comfortably, SmartAsset analyzed how much individuals and families need to earn using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule. This popular financial framework recommends allocating 50% of income to necessities, 30% to discretionary spending and 20% to savings or debt repayment.
Based on this model, the average single adult needs $5,844 more than they did in 2024 to live comfortably. For families of four, the income gap is even higher, with these families needing an additional $9,360 per year.
Using data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator, SmartAsset calculated the pre-tax income needed to meet those targets in each state. It found that the most expensive states for an individual to live in are Hawaii, Massachusetts, California, New York and Washington.
Here’s the full ranking of states, with the income needed for an individual to live comfortably in parenthesis:
- Hawaii ($124,467)
- Massachusetts ($120,141)
- California ($119,475)
- New York ($114,691)
- Washington ($109,658)
- New Jersey ($108,992)
- Maryland ($108,867)
- Virginia ($106,704)
- Colorado ($105,955)
- Connecticut ($105,165)
- Oregon ($104,666)
- New Hampshire ($103,085)
- Arizona ($101,587)
- Rhode Island ($101,338)
- Alaska ($100,298)
- Vermont ($99,632)
- Georgia ($99,590)
- Utah ($99,466)
- Nevada ($99,216)
- Illinois ($98,010)
- Delaware ($97,469)
- Florida ($97,386)
- Maine ($96,595)
- Idaho ($96,429)
- Pennsylvania ($95,306)
- North Carolina ($93,766)
- Montana ($92,851)
- South Carolina ($92,144)
- Minnesota ($91,728)
- Tennessee ($91,478)
- Texas ($90,771)
- Wyoming ($87,942)
- Kansas ($87,610)
- New Mexico ($87,402)
- Nebraska ($87,318)
- Michigan ($87,235)
- Wisconsin ($87,194)
- Iowa ($86,902)
- Missouri ($86,819)
- Indiana ($86,570)
- Mississippi ($86,320)
- Louisiana ($85,322)
- Alabama ($85,280)
- Ohio ($84,781)
- Oklahoma ($84,282)
- Kentucky ($83,574)
- North Dakota ($82,285)
- South Dakota ($82,160)
- Arkansas ($81,078)
- West Virginia ($80,829)
As for the average family of four, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, California and Vermont are the most expensive to live in. Here’s the full ranking of states, with the income needed for a family of four to live comfortably in parenthesis:
- Massachusetts ($313,747)
- Hawaii ($294,362)
- Connecticut ($290,368)
- California ($287,456)
- Vermont ($286,790)
- New Jersey ($282,714)
- Washington ($277,888)
- New York ($276,973)
- Colorado ($273,728)
- Oregon ($261,914)
- New Hampshire ($259,501)
- Maryland ($259,168)
- Alaska ($259,002)
- Rhode Island ($256,672)
- Minnesota ($251,264)
- Pennsylvania ($248,435)
- Virginia ($241,696)
- Maine ($239,699)
- Nevada ($238,534)
- Arizona ($237,952)
- Montana ($234,957)
- Illinois ($234,291)
- Utah ($231,046)
- Wisconsin ($225,555)
- Delaware ($223,142)
- Idaho ($223,142)
- New Mexico ($220,813)
- Ohio ($220,563)
- Indiana ($220,230)
- Missouri ($218,317)
- Florida ($217,651)
- Nebraska ($215,738)
- Georgia ($210,829)
- North Carolina ($210,746)
- Wyoming ($209,914)
- Oklahoma ($208,749)
- South Carolina ($208,333)
- Michigan ($207,584)
- North Dakota ($207,334)
- Texas ($204,922)
- Iowa ($202,675)
- Tennessee ($200,678)
- Kansas ($200,678)
- Louisiana ($199,597)
- South Dakota ($197,933)
- West Virginia ($195,354)
- Alabama ($194,522)
- Arkansas ($193,773)
- Kentucky ($192,941)
- Mississippi ($186,618)