The Most Realistic Retirement Age in Every State
At what age do you hope to retire? If you’re like the majority of workers, you’re probably planning to stop punching the clock by the time you turn 65.
A survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that 54% of respondents said they expect to retire at age 65 or younger. However, a significant percentage of workers expect to keep clocking in until they’re much older. One-third of respondents said they don’t expect to retire until they’re 70 or older. Some don’t plan to retire at all.
It’s one thing to have an idea of when you want to retire. It’s another thing altogether to know whether you’ll actually be able to retire. Several factors can affect your retirement plans — including whether you’ll have enough saved by your ideal retirement age to stop working. The EBRI survey found that less than half of workers — 42% — had tried to figure out how much they would need to have saved by the time they retired to live comfortably.
Using an online retirement calculator is a great way to get an estimate of how much you should save to retire by a certain age. To give you an idea, though, of when you might realistically be able to retire and how much in savings you would need depending on where you live, GOBankingRates crunched the numbers for you.
To determine the most realistic retirement age in every state, GOBankingRates first calculated the median income by age in every state using Census Bureau data to find out how much people could set aside in savings at various ages. Then GOBankingRates used findings from its January 2020 study on how much savings one needs across America to retire comfortably to pinpoint an ideal savings target amount for each state. To find out how long it would take workers in every state to save up to the state’s ideal savings target, GOBankingRates assumed the following:
Workers started work at age 22.
Workers followed the 50/30/20 rule — allocating 50% of personal income to necessities, 30% to wants and 20% to savings.
Of the 20% of income that went into savings, 14% was put in a typical savings account and 6% was put into a 401(k) with a 50% employer match (up to 3%). In addition, the average annual return on investments in the 401(k) was assumed to be 5%.
Using the above assumptions, GOBankingRates found how much a worker in each state earning a median income could have saved at ages 24, 34, 44 and 58 to 77 years of age. Once the ideal savings target — as identified by the earlier GOBankingRates’ study — was met or exceeded, the following year was determined to be the ideal retirement age of each state.
You might be surprised to find that if you start saving 20% of your income starting at age 22, the realistic retirement age in your state might be sooner than you think. Or you might have to work longer than you expected.
Last updated: Aug. 20, 2020
Alabama
Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $723,989
Total savings at 59: $759,485
Alaska
Realistic retirement age: 64
How much savings you need to retire: $1,213,517
Total savings at 64: $1,301,392
Arizona
Realistic retirement age: 58
How much savings you need to retire: $862,583
Total savings at 58: $905,975
Arkansas
Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $697,288
Total savings at 59: $757,128
California
Realistic retirement age: 66
How much savings you need to retire: $1,369,911
Total savings at 66: $1,442,638
Colorado
Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $908,357
Total savings at 56: $970,746
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Connecticut
Realistic retirement age: 62
How much savings you need to retire: $1,184,272
Total savings at 62: $1,263,773
Delaware
Realistic retirement age: 60
How much savings you need to retire: $960,488
Total savings at 60: $1,033,545
Florida
Realistic retirement age: 61
How much savings you need to retire: $843,510
Total savings at 61: $907,809
Georgia
Realistic retirement age: 57
How much savings you need to retire: $737,976
Total savings at 57: $776,321
Hawaii
Realistic retirement age: 74
How much savings you need to retire: $2,151,884
Total savings at 74: $2,252,310
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Idaho
Realistic retirement age: 58
How much savings you need to retire: $797,736
Total savings at 58: $854,264
Illinois
Realistic retirement age: 54
How much savings you need to retire: $804,094
Total savings at 54: $850,543
Indiana
Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $745,605
Total savings at 56: $796,066
Iowa
Realistic retirement age: 54
How much savings you need to retire: $767,220
Total savings at 54: $833,240
Kansas
Realistic retirement age: 54
How much savings you need to retire: $703,645
Total savings at 54: $775,280
Kentucky
Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $774,849
Total savings at 59: $829,737
Louisiana
Realistic retirement age: 61
How much savings you need to retire: $773,578
Total savings at 61: $830,209
Maine
Realistic retirement age: 65
How much savings you need to retire: $1,083,824
Total savings at 65: $1,154,700
Maryland
Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $1,238,947
Total savings at 59: $1,311,381
Massachusetts
Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $1,249,119
Total savings at 59: $1,313,236
Michigan
Realistic retirement age: 55
How much savings you need to retire: $732,890
Total savings at 55: $767,587
Minnesota
Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $871,483
Total savings at 56: $954,570
Mississippi
Realistic retirement age: 61
How much savings you need to retire: $666,772
Total savings at 61: $710,727
Missouri
Realistic retirement age: 55
How much savings you need to retire: $725,261
Total savings at 55: $783,803
Montana
Realistic retirement age: 63
How much savings you need to retire: $963,031
Total savings at 63: $1,045,703
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Nebraska
Realistic retirement age: 54
How much savings you need to retire: $758,320
Total savings at 54: $819,381
Nevada
Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $899,456
Total savings at 59: $940,900
New Hampshire
Realistic retirement age: 55
How much savings you need to retire: $956,674
Total savings at 55: $1,032,939
New Jersey
Realistic retirement age: 61
How much savings you need to retire: $1,174,100
Total savings at 61: $1,232,297
New Mexico
Realistic retirement age: 60
How much savings you need to retire: $720,175
Total savings at 60: $767,592
New York
Realistic retirement age: 66
How much savings you need to retire: $1,308,879
Total savings at 66: $1,376,839
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North Carolina
Realistic retirement age: 60
How much savings you need to retire: $797,736
Total savings at 60: $848,448
North Dakota
Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $820,623
Total savings at 56: $883,964
Ohio
Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $772,306
Total savings at 56: $819,207
Oklahoma
Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $687,116
Total savings at 56: $723,520
Oregon
Realistic retirement age: 66
How much savings you need to retire: $1,334,309
Total savings at 66: $1,415,540
Pennsylvania
Realistic retirement age: 58
How much savings you need to retire: $874,026
Total savings at 58: $938,573
Rhode Island
Realistic retirement age: 64
How much savings you need to retire: $1,099,082
Total savings at 64: $1,178,929
South Carolina
Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $801,551
Total savings at 59: $873,676
South Dakota
Realistic retirement age: 58
How much savings you need to retire: $819,352
Total savings at 58: $864,955
Tennessee
Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $707,460
Total savings at 56: $745,133
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Texas
Realistic retirement age: 57
How much savings you need to retire: $762,134
Total savings at 57: $831,450
Utah
Realistic retirement age: 53
How much savings you need to retire: $815,537
Total savings at 53: $887,851
Vermont
Realistic retirement age: 60
How much savings you need to retire: $1,060,937
Total savings at 60: $1,113,893
Virginia
Realistic retirement age: 54
How much savings you need to retire: $885,470
Total savings at 54: $935,494
Washington
Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $1,003,719
Total savings at 56: $1,059,694
West Virginia
Realistic retirement age: 60
How much savings you need to retire: $754,505
Total savings at 60: $803,997
Wisconsin
Realistic retirement age: 57
How much savings you need to retire: $811,723
Total savings at 57: $871,002
Wyoming
Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $889,284
Total savings at 59: $951,167
More From GOBankingRates
Methodology: To determine the most realistic retirement age in every state, GOBankingRates first found median income in each state, according to the 2018 current population survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. To calculate income by age bracket (15-24, 25-34, etc.), GOBankingRates first divided the median income of each state by the median income nationally to derive an income index that was use to factor out income by age for each state. Once the median income by age was calculated for each state, GOBankingRates found an ideal savings target for each state, sourced from a January 2020 GOBankingRates study (“Here’s Exactly How Much Savings You Need to Retire in Your State”), which assumes one will draw 4% from their savings each year to pay for living expenses. Finally, GOBankingRates set three constants for the type of savings that would occur: (1) workers start working at age 22; (2) workers are following the 50/30/20 rule (allocating 50% of personal income to necessities, 30% to wants and 20% to savings); and (3) workers are saving 14% in a typical savings account, in addition to putting 6% into a 401(k) with a 50% employer match (up to 3%) and an average annual return of 5%. Using those constants, GOBankingRates found the savings total of each state at 24, 34, 44 and 58-77 years of age. Once the ideal savings goal was met or exceeded, the following year was determined to be the ideal retirement age of each state. All data was collected and is-up-to date as of Jan. 8, 2020.
“Here’s Exactly How Much Savings You Need to Retire in Your State” methodology: To find out exactly how much is needed to retire in each state, GOBankingRates found the annual cost of expenditures for a retired person in each state by multiplying expenditures for those over the age of 65 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2018 Consumer Expenditure Survey by the cost-of-living index for each state from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center’s third quarter 2019 cost of living series. To find how much money a retired person would need to save, GOBankingRates divided each state’s annual expenditures, minus the annual Social Security income as sourced from the Social Security Administration’s monthly statistical snapshot, November 2019, by .04, assuming drawing down savings by 4% each year to pay for living expenses. All data was collected and is up-to-date as of Dec. 13, 2019.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: The Most Realistic Retirement Age in Every State