When NYC was named one of the best places in the U.S. to retire a couple of years ago we certainly did a double take. Sure, there are some NYC superlatives we fully support, like being named the prettiest city at night, one of the best foodie cities in the world, and one of the best cities in the world. But the best place to retire? With these rent prices? Not necessarily.
There’s a reason why on a newer study by GOBankingRates looking for the cheapest places to retire only two New York spots made the list–and neither were NYC. And now they’re looking to see how long $2 million in retirement will last in every state and determine how much money New York retirees need to live comfortably–spoiler alert: it isn’t good.
After crunching the numbers it was found that, after Social Security, $2 million will last New York retirees 39.22 years. To live comfortably during retirement, New Yorkers need an average of $50,997 per year after factoring in Social Security payments.
This means that, for a comfortable 25-year retirement, New Yorkers need to have a total of $1.27 million saved up, and $1.53 million saved up to live comfortably for 30 years.
And forget about living comfortably even if you have $1 million saved up–that will only last you 13.1 years in New York.
Thankfully, New York isn’t one of the most expensive states to retire in–those states are Hawaii, Massachusetts, and California in that order. But it isn’t one of the most affordable states to retire in either–that would be West Virginia, Kansas, and Mississippi.
To find how long $2 million will last in retirement in each state, GOBankingRates gathered national average annual expenditures data for people 65 and older from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey data, and annual expenditure estimates from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.
They then divided $2 million by each state’s average annual expenditures estimate. Find the full study.
