The Cost To Retire Comfortably for 30 Years in the 6 New England States
Written by
J. David Herman
Edited by
Gary Dudak
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October is a great month for dreaming of a New England retirement, with huge swaths of the region awash in colorful, world-class fall foliage. New England also offers a rich history, proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, charming towns large and small, and some of the best centers of learning on the planet.
On the other hand, New England has famously harsh winters. It can also be a very expensive place to live. If you’re eyeing this region for retirement, it’s worth investigating how much money you’ll need to live — and to live comfortably.
New England includes six states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Massachusetts is by far the most populous, with nearly seven million residents. Vermont has the region’s lowest population with about 650,000 residents.
Massachusetts also has the region’s highest annual cost of living … by far. Based on numbers compiled by GOBankingRates, just living in the Bay State will cost someone age 65+ about $75,000 a year. That means “living comfortably” in Massachusetts will set you back about $150,000 annually, based on GBR’s methodology for this study. In Vermont, you can generally live on about $50,000 a year and live comfortably for about $100,000.
GBR has penciled these numbers out for each of New England’s six states to provide an estimate of how much you would need to live in retirement for 30 years (increasingly common these days). We’ve also included totals for 15 and 20 years. You can find our full methodology at the bottom. Here are the costs for New Englanders to retire comfortably.
Connecticut
- Total population: 3,626,205
- Annual cost to live comfortably: $107,583
- Total cost to live comfortably, 15 years: $1,613,745
- Total cost to live comfortably, 20 years: $2,151,660
- Total cost to live comfortably, 30 years: $3,227,490
Maine
- Total population: 1,385,340
- Annual cost to live comfortably: $105,972
- Total cost to live comfortably, 15 years: $1,589,582
- Total cost to live comfortably, 20 years: $2,119,442
- Total cost to live comfortably, 30 years: $3,179,163
Massachusetts
- Total population: 6,981,974
- Annual cost to live comfortably: $150,069
- Total cost to live comfortably, 15 years: $2,251,029
- Total cost to live comfortably, 20 years: $3,001,372
- Total cost to live comfortably, 30 years: $4,502,059
New Hampshire
- Total population: 1,395,231
- Annual cost to live comfortably: $116,860
- Total cost to live comfortably, 15 years: $1,752,894
- Total cost to live comfortably, 20 years: $2,337,192
- Total cost to live comfortably, 30 years: $3,505,787
Rhode Island
- Total population: 1,093,734
- Annual cost to live comfortably: $111,586
- Total cost to live comfortably, 15 years: $1,673,790
- Total cost to live comfortably, 20 years: $2,231,721
- Total cost to live comfortably, 30 years: $3,347,581
Vermont
- Total population: 647,064
- Annual cost to live comfortably: $104,724
- Total cost to live comfortably, 15 years: $1,570,859
- Total cost to live comfortably, 20 years: $2,094,479
- Total cost to live comfortably, 30 years: $3,141,718
Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates found the cost of living for each New England state as sourced from the Missouri Economic Research Information Center. For each state, the average expenditure costs for residents aged 65 and over were calculated using the national average expenditure costs (sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey). The average single-family home value was sourced from the Zillow Home Value Index. By assuming a 10% down payment and using the national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate (sourced from Federal Reserve Economic Data), the average mortgage was calculated. Using the average mortgage and expenditure costs, the total monthly and annual cost of living was calculated. These costs were doubled to determine numbers for “living comfortably” and figured for 15-, 20- and 30-year periods. An inflation rate of 2.53% was used (sourced from USInflationCalculator.com). An expected annual rate of return of 10.52% was used (sourced from Vanguard’s How America Saves). All data was collected on and is up to date as of September 16th, 2024.
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