Personal Finance
Is $1 Million Enough for Retirement in America?
Is $1 Million Enough for Retirement in America?
The average American needs their retirement savings to last them 14 to 17 years. With this in mind, is $1 million in savings enough for the average retiree?
Ultimately, it depends on where you live, since the average cost of living varies across the country. This graphic, using data compiled by GOBankingRates.com shows how many years $1 million in retirement savings lasts in the top 50 most populated U.S. cities.
Editor’s note: As one user rightly pointed out, this analysis doesn’t take into account interest earned on the $1 million. With that in consideration, the above calculations could be seen as very conservative figures.
How Long $1 Million Would Last in 50 Cities
To compile this data, GOBankingRates calculated the average expenditures of people aged 65 or older in each city, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and cost-of-living indices from Sperling’s Best Places.
That figure was then reduced to account for average Social Security income. Then, GOBankingRates divided the one million by each city’s final figure to calculate how many years $1 million would last in each place.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, San Francisco, California came in as the most expensive city on the list. $1 million in retirement savings lasts approximately eight years in San Francisco, which is about half the time that the typical American needs their retirement funds to last.
City | How long $1 would last (years) | Cost-of-living Index | Annual expenditures (after using annual Social Security) |
---|---|---|---|
Memphis, TN | 45.3 | 76 | $22,043 |
El Paso, TX | 40.3 | 81.4 | $24,789 |
Wichita, KS | 39.7 | 82.1 | $25,145 |
Tulsa, OK | 38.8 | 83.2 | $25,705 |
Indianapolis, IN | 38.6 | 83.5 | $25,857 |
Milwaukee, WI | 37.6 | 84.9 | $26,569 |
Oklahoma City, OK | 37.3 | 85.4 | $26,824 |
Columbus, OH | 37.2 | 85.5 | $26,875 |
Kansas City, MO | 36.7 | 86.2 | $27,231 |
Detroit, MI | 35.8 | 87.6 | $27,943 |
Baltimore, MD | 35.3 | 88.2 | $28,248 |
Louisville, KY | 35.3 | 88.4 | $28,349 |
San Antonio, TX | 34.4 | 89.7 | $29,011 |
Omaha, NE | 34.3 | 89.8 | $29,062 |
Albuquerque, NM | 33.6 | 91.1 | $29,723 |
Tucson, AZ | 33.3 | 91.6 | $29,977 |
Jacksonville, FL | 32.3 | 93.5 | $30,943 |
New Orleans, LA | 30.8 | 96.3 | $32,367 |
Houston, TX | 30.8 | 96.5 | $32,469 |
Charlotte, NC | 29.6 | 98.9 | $33,690 |
Forth Worth, TX | 29.3 | 99.8 | $34,148 |
Arlington, TX | 28.8 | 100.6 | $34,554 |
Philadelphia, PA | 28.6 | 101.2 | $34,860 |
Nashville, TN | 28.5 | 101.4 | $34,961 |
Dallas, TX | 28.4 | 101.6 | $35,063 |
Raleigh, NC | 28.2 | 102.3 | $35,419 |
Fresno, CA | 28.1 | 102.6 | $35,572 |
Phoenix, AZ | 27.6 | 103.7 | $36,131 |
Mesa, AZ | 27.4 | 104.2 | $36,385 |
Colorado Springs, CO | 27.3 | 104.5 | $36,538 |
Virginia Beach, VA | 26.9 | 105.6 | $37,097 |
Minneapolis, MN | 26.6 | 106.5 | $37,555 |
Chicago, IL | 26.4 | 106.9 | $37,759 |
Atlanta, GA | 26.3 | 107.5 | $38,064 |
Las Vegas, NV | 24.8 | 111.6 | $40,149 |
Sacramento, CA | 22.9 | 118.2 | $43,506 |
Austin, TX | 22.7 | 119.3 | $44,065 |
Miami, FL | 21.7 | 123.1 | $45,998 |
Denver, CO | 20.4 | 128.7 | $48,846 |
Portland, OR | 20.0 | 130.8 | $49,914 |
Washington, D.C. | 16.4 | 152.1 | $60,747 |
San Diego, CA | 15.4 | 160.1 | $64,816 |
Long Beach, CA | 15.3 | 160.4 | $64,969 |
Boston, MA | 15.1 | 162.4 | $65,986 |
Seattle. WA | 14.0 | 172.3 | $71,021 |
Los Angeles, CA | 13.9 | 173.3 | $71,530 |
Oakland, CA | 13.8 | 174.4 | $72,089 |
New York, NY | 12.7 | 187.2 | $78,599 |
San Jose, CA | 10.8 | 214.5 | $92,484 |
San Francisco, CA | 8.3 | 269.3 | $120,355 |
A big factor in San Francisco’s high cost of living is its housing costs. According to Sperlings Best Places, housing in San Francisco is almost 6x more expensive than the national average and 3.6x more expensive than in the overall state of California.
Four of the top five most expensive cities on the list are in California, with New York City being the only outlier. NYC is the third most expensive city on the ranking, with $1 million expected to last a retiree about 12.7 years.
On the other end of the spectrum, $1 million in retirement would last 45.3 years in Memphis, Tennessee. That’s about 37 years longer than it would last in San Francisco. In Memphis, housing costs are about 2.7x lower than the national average, with other expenses like groceries, health, and utilities well below the national average as well.
Retirement, Who?
Regardless of where you live, it’s helpful to start planning for retirement sooner rather than later. But according to a recent survey, only 41% of women and 58% of men are actively saving for retirement.
However, for some, COVID-19 has been the financial wake-up call they needed to start planning for the future. In fact, in the same survey, 70% of respondents claimed the pandemic has “caused them to pay more attention to their long-term finances.”
This is good news, considering that people are living longer than they used to, meaning their funds need to last longer in general (or people need to retire later in life). Although, as the data in this graphic suggests, where you live will greatly influence how much you actually need.
Personal Finance
Ranked: The Best U.S. States for Retirement
Getting ready for retirement? See which states score the highest in terms of affordability, quality of life, and health care.

Ranked: The Best U.S. States for Retirement
What is the most important aspect of retirement planning?
If you said finances, you’re probably right. But have you ever thought about where the best place is to retire? Being strategic about location can make a big impact on your quality of life, and perhaps help your savings go just a bit further.
To help break it down, we’ve visualized data from personal finance platform, WalletHub, which ranked the best U.S. states for retirement as of 2023.
Data and Methodology
WalletHub ranked each state using 47 metrics across three dimensions.
- Affordability (7 metrics worth 40 points)
- Quality of Life (22 metrics worth 30 points)
- Health Care (18 metrics worth 30 points)
Here are some examples of what each dimension measures:
- Affordability: Cost of living and taxation
- Quality of Life: Quality of elder-abuse protections and crime rates
- Health Care: Number of health professionals per capita and life expectancy
Visit the source for the full list of metrics.
The final scores (visualized as the bars in the infographic above) represent each state’s weighted average across all metrics. See below for more comprehensive results.
Rank | State | Score | Affordability (rank) | Quality of Life (rank) | Health Care (rank) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Virginia | 57.6 | 16 | 11 | 11 |
2T | Florida | 57.4 | 9 | 4 | 28 |
2T | Colorado | 57.4 | 14 | 27 | 5 |
4 | Wyoming | 55.6 | 5 | 9 | 38 |
5 | Delaware | 55.5 | 6 | 33 | 18 |
6 | New Hampshire | 55.0 | 31 | 5 | 7 |
7 | South Dakota | 53.6 | 25 | 30 | 9 |
8 | Minnesota | 53.5 | 40 | 2 | 1 |
9 | Idaho | 53.2 | 15 | 17 | 31 |
10 | North Dakota | 53.0 | 22 | 25 | 20 |
11 | Utah | 52.7 | 20 | 24 | 26 |
12 | North Carolina | 52.6 | 12 | 23 | 35 |
13 | Missouri | 52.4 | 17 | 28 | 32 |
14 | Pennsylvania | 52.3 | 36 | 3 | 12 |
15T | Montana | 52.1 | 24 | 15 | 29 |
15T | South Carolina | 52.1 | 4 | 38 | 39 |
17 | Massachusetts | 51.9 | 47 | 1 | 2 |
18 | California | 51.6 | 32 | 19 | 10 |
19 | Alaska | 51.3 | 26 | 36 | 8 |
20 | Arizona | 51.1 | 18 | 35 | 25 |
21 | Wisconsin | 50.9 | 34 | 14 | 17 |
22 | Alabama | 50.7 | 1 | 44 | 50 |
23 | Ohio | 49.8 | 27 | 8 | 37 |
24 | Hawaii | 49.7 | 38 | 29 | 4 |
25 | Nebraska | 49.3 | 37 | 16 | 15 |
26 | Iowa | 48.9 | 35 | 12 | 24 |
27 | Georgia | 48.6 | 7 | 40 | 42 |
28 | Michigan | 48.0 | 29 | 18 | 36 |
29T | Maine | 47.5 | 43 | 6 | 13 |
29T | New Mexico | 47.5 | 21 | 46 | 30 |
31 | Indiana | 47.3 | 23 | 31 | 40 |
32T | Nevada | 47.2 | 11 | 42 | 41 |
32T | Tennessee | 47.2 | 2 | 48 | 45 |
34T | Vermont | 47.1 | 48 | 7 | 6 |
34T | Connecticut | 47.1 | 44 | 26 | 3 |
36 | Kansas | 46.8 | 30 | 32 | 33 |
37 | West Virginia | 46.4 | 3 | 43 | 49 |
38 | Oregon | 46.1 | 41 | 21 | 21 |
39 | Texas | 45.9 | 28 | 37 | 34 |
40 | Rhode Island | 45.0 | 39 | 39 | 14 |
41 | Arkansas | 44.7 | 8 | 49 | 44 |
42 | Maryland | 44.6 | 46 | 20 | 19 |
43 | Washington | 44.5 | 45 | 13 | 23 |
44 | Illinois | 44.3 | 42 | 22 | 27 |
45 | Louisiana | 43.9 | 13 | 45 | 47 |
46 | New York | 43.7 | 50 | 10 | 16 |
47 | Oklahoma | 43.6 | 19 | 47 | 43 |
48 | Mississippi | 40.8 | 10 | 50 | 48 |
49 | New Jersey | 40.2 | 49 | 34 | 22 |
50 | Kentucky | 38.8 | 33 | 41 | 46 |
According to this methodology, Virginia is currently the best state for retirement. Although the Southeastern state does not excel in any one dimension, it scores consistently well across all three to create a very balanced retirement profile.
This gives it a slight advantage over second place Florida, which excels in quality of life and affordability, but falls further behind in terms of health care. Third-placed Colorado is a mirror of Florida, offering excellent health care but a lower quality of life in comparison.
How to Interpret These Results
It’s important to remember that this ranking is purely based on data and the methodology above, and may not be tailored to your individual preferences.
For example, if you believe that health services will be very important during retirement, you may rank Minnesota (#1 in terms of health care) much higher than eighth place.
You may notice that prioritizing one dimension will often come at a trade-off in others. Looking at Minnesota once more, we can see that the state is also one of America’s most expensive.
Looking to retire outside of the U.S.? Check out this graphic on the top 25 countries to retire in.
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