10 Cities Where You Need More Than $1 Million To Retire

A million bucks should be enough to fund your retirement, shouldn’t it?

In these 10 U.S. cities, it could be challenging at best. At worst, you would fall well short.

Not all retirement circumstances are the same, of course. But let’s say you quit your job (or jobs) at 65 and have that million dollars to work with, in one form or another. And let’s say you need to support the average household, which comes to an average of 1.6 people for age 65 and up.

It’s worth considering how many years that million would cover, based on average expenses for groceries, healthcare, housing, utilities and transportation where you’re located. Throw in another 0.4 of a person or more, plus entertainment, travel and other non-essentials, and things get tighter.

To get an idea of how long $1 million would last for retirees across the country, GOBankingRates has combined data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey, cost-of-living figures from Sperling’s Best Places, and population numbers from the 2022 American Community Survey. Only the 100 most populous cities were considered.

The 10 cities where your million dollars would run out most quickly are listed below, with the money lasting longest in No. 10 and shortest in No. 1. For some perspective, we’ve also thrown in five cities where a million dollars would last you the longest.

There are some relatively affordable places to retire in California, but also plenty of places where you had better bring your wallet along with your sunscreen. The Golden State landed six cities in the top 10 places where a million bucks disappears most quickly during retirement — including the entire top five.

• Number of years $1M will last: 10.78
• Years, months and days: 10 years, 9 months, 12 days
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 76

• Number of years $1M will last: 10.7
• Years, months and days: 10 years, 8 months, 13 days
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 76

• Number of years $1M will last: 10.31
• Years, months and days: 10 years, 3 months, 21 days
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 75

• Number of years $1M will last: 10.26
• Years, months and days: 10 years, 3 months, 3 days
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 75

• Number of years $1M will last: 10.24
• Years, months and days: 10 years, 2 months, 28 days
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 75

• Number of years $1M will last: 9.82
• Years, months and days: 9 years, 9 months, 24 days
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 75

• Number of years $1M will last: 9.8
• Years, months and days: 9 years, 9 months, 18 days
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 75

• Number of years $1M will last: 9.55
• Years, months and days: 9 years, 6 months, 19 days
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 75

• Number of years $1M will last: 8.04
• Years, months and days: 8 years, 0 months, 16 days
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 73

• Number of years $1M will last: 7.09
• Years, months and days: 7 years, 1 month, 1 day
• Age $1M would run out (if retired at 65): 72

In Toledo, Ohio – The Glass City – $1M pencils out to last for just shy of 24 years. Retire at 65, and you would theoretically not run out of money until age 89. That’s the longest lasting $1M in our study. (Don’t forget, only the top 100 most populous cities were considered.)

Others near the bottom of the list include Cleveland, Ohio (23.92 years); Memphis, Tennessee (23.2 years); Fort Wayne, Indiana (21.46 years); and Lubbock, Texas (21.43 years).

As for the entire United States, $1 million will last retirees an average of 17 years, 3 months and 12 days. That gets you to age 82, if you retire at 65.

Methodology: In order to find the most financially challenging cities to retire with $1M across the country, GOBankingRates first found 1) the national average annual expenditures for people 65 and older, sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey data. Then, GOBankingRates created 2) city-level annual expenditure estimates by multiplying the national figure by each city’s overall cost-of-living index score from Sperling’s Best Places. Finally, GOBankingRates found 3) how many years $1M would last in each city by dividing $1M by each city’s average annual expenditure estimate. All cities were then ranked, with No. 1 being the city where $1M would last the longest, and No. 100 being the city where $1M would run out the most quickly. GOBankingRates provided supplemental information on the average annual cost of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation and healthcare for people 65 and older in each city by again using the Sperling’s Best Places cost of living indices for each category, to factor out national estimates from the 2022 CES. Only the 100 most populous cities (according to the 2022 American Community Survey) were considered. All data was collected and up to date as of October 5, 2023.