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The Most Realistic Retirement Age in Every State

November 27, 2024

9 min Read

Written by Jami Farkas

Edited by Melanie Grafil

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GOBankingRates' editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and information. We use data-driven methodologies to evaluate financial products and services - our reviews and ratings are not influenced by advertisers. You can read more about our editorial guidelines and our products and services review methodology.

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At what age do you hope to retire? For average Americans, that target retirement age is 66, according to several recent polls.

In reality, though, the average retirement age is 61, up from 57 in 1991, Gallup reported. Americans born after 1960 are eligible for full Social Security retirement benefits at age 67, or reduced benefits at 62. But if you put money away through the years and have a healthy retirement account — and if you live in a place with a lower cost of living — retiring before any government benefits kick in is possible.

Using an online retirement calculator is one of the many great ways 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 — 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. 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 collecting their paychecks at 22.
Workers followed the 50/30/20 rule, allocating 50% of personal income to necessities, 30% to wants and 20% to savings.
Of that 20% that went into savings, 14% was deposited into 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 74 years of age. Once the ideal savings target 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.

Alabama

Realistic retirement age: 58
How much savings you need to retire: $818,555
Total savings at 58: $839,485

Alaska

Realistic retirement age: 63
How much savings you need to retire: $1,487,698
Total savings at 63: $1,488,200

Arizona

Realistic retirement age: 60
How much savings you need to retire: $1,126,187
Total savings at 60: $1,140,377

Arkansas

Realistic retirement age: 62
How much savings you need to retire: $862,006
Total savings at 62: $891,863

California

Realistic retirement age: 66
How much savings you need to retire: $1,678,882
Total savings at 66: $1,687,854

Colorado

Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $1,105,331
Total savings at 56: $1,145,885

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Connecticut

Realistic retirement age: 61
How much savings you need to retire: $1,317,371
Total savings at 61: $1,361,730

Delaware

Realistic retirement age: 61
How much savings you need to retire: $1,122,711
Total savings at 61: $1,155,329

Florida

Realistic retirement age: 63
How much savings you need to retire: $1,074,046
Total savings at 63: $1,095,684

Georgia

Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $827,246
Total savings at 56: $829,490

Hawaii

Realistic retirement age: 75-plus
How much savings you need to retire: $2,485,329
Total savings at 74: $2,333,542

Idaho

Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $1,018,429
Total savings at 56: $1,037,493

Illinois

Realistic retirement age: 53
How much savings you need to retire: $896,767
Total savings at 53: $927,403

Indiana

Realistic retirement age: 54
How much savings you need to retire: $849,840
Total savings at 54: $864,704

Iowa

Realistic retirement age: 53
How much savings you need to retire: $837,674
Total savings at 53: $847,550

Kansas

Realistic retirement age: 52
How much savings you need to retire: $808,127
Total savings at 52: $843,700

Kentucky

Realistic retirement age: 62
How much savings you need to retire: $936,742
Total savings at 62: $976,950

Louisiana

Realistic retirement age: 60
How much savings you need to retire: $914,147
Total savings at 60: $921,145

Maine

Realistic retirement age: 63
How much savings you need to retire: $1,291,300
Total savings at 63: $1,304,883

Maryland

Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $1,442,509
Total savings at 59: $1,500,015

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Massachusetts

Realistic retirement age: 68
How much savings you need to retire: $1,889,184
Total savings at 68: $1,936,486

Michigan

Realistic retirement age: 57
How much savings you need to retire: $889,815
Total savings at 57: $909,639

Minnesota

Realistic retirement age: 54
How much savings you need to retire: $981,931
Total savings at 54: $990,991

Mississippi

Realistic retirement age: 61
How much savings you need to retire: $764,676
Total savings at 61: $784,444

Missouri

Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $835,936
Total savings at 56: $857,775

Montana

Realistic retirement age: 62
How much savings you need to retire: $1,108,807
Total savings at 62: $1,141,505

Nebraska

Realistic retirement age: 53
How much savings you need to retire: $884,601
Total savings at 53: $914,016

Nevada

Realistic retirement age: 61
How much savings you need to retire: $1,080,998
Total savings at 61: $1,082,212

New Hampshire

Realistic retirement age: 58
How much savings you need to retire: $1,305,205
Total savings at 58: $1,310,065

New Jersey

Realistic retirement age: 57
How much savings you need to retire: $1,240,897
Total savings at 57: $1,249,174

New Mexico

Realistic retirement age: 62
How much savings you need to retire: $921,099
Total savings at 62: $938,911

New York

Realistic retirement age: 68
How much savings you need to retire: $1,625,003
Total savings at 68: $1,631,225

North Carolina

Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $950,646
Total savings at 59: $969,234

North Dakota

Realistic retirement age: 58
How much savings you need to retire: $974,978
Total savings at 58: $1,015,746

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Ohio

Realistic retirement age: 58
How much savings you need to retire: $884,601
Total savings at 58: $924,423

Oklahoma

Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $778,581
Total savings at 56: $810,593

Oregon

Realistic retirement age: 62
How much savings you need to retire: $1,393,844
Total savings at 62: $1,437,528

Pennsylvania

Realistic retirement age: 57
How much savings you need to retire: $994,097
Total savings at 57: $1,024,444

Rhode Island

Realistic retirement age: 61
How much savings you need to retire: $1,249,588
Total savings at 61: $1,261,212

South Carolina

Realistic retirement age: 59
How much savings you need to retire: $926,313
Total savings at 59: $963,855

South Dakota

Realistic retirement age: 55
How much savings you need to retire: $929,790
Total savings at 55: $952,724

Tennessee

Realistic retirement age: 57
How much savings you need to retire: $855,054
Total savings at 57: $877,886

Texas

Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $895,029
Total savings at 56: $909,165

Utah

Realistic retirement age: 54
How much savings you need to retire: $1,074,046
Total savings at 54: $1,079,790

Vermont

Realistic retirement age: 62
How much savings you need to retire: $1,301,729
Total savings at 62: $1,336,090

Virginia

Realistic retirement age: 56
How much savings you need to retire: $1,074,046
Total savings at 56: $1,082,679

Washington

Realistic retirement age: 58
How much savings you need to retire: $1,272,182
Total savings at 58: $1,292,473

West Virginia

Realistic retirement age: 63
How much savings you need to retire: $851,578
Total savings at 63: $859,100

Wisconsin

Realistic retirement age: 57
How much savings you need to retire: $947,170
Total savings at 57: $986,585

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Wyoming

Realistic retirement age: 55
How much savings you need to retire: $895,029
Total savings at 55: $916,094

Methodology: To determine the most realistic retirement age in every state, GOBankingRates first found income by age and state from the 2021 median income by age, according to the 2021 current population survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau and factored it out by dividing each state’s median income by the national median income. This provided an “income index” that GOBankingRates then took to factor out each state’s income by age. Once each state had its median income by age, GOBankingRates found an ideal savings target for each state (see methodology below), 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) You are working from 22 onward until you hit the savings goal. 2) You are following the 50/30/20 rule (allocating 50% of personal income to necessities, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings). 3) You 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 return of 5%. Using the above constants GOBankingRates found the savings total of each state at 24, 34, 44, and 58-77 years of age. Once the savings goal was met or exceeded, the following year was determined to be the ideal retirement age of each state. NOTE: These 401(k) returns are based on a static market; there is no way of determining future trends. This study also does not take into account emergencies that would require the use of savings. All data was collected and is up to date as of April 18, 2023.

“Here’s Exactly How Much Savings You Need to Retire in Your State” Methodology: In order to find out exactly how much you need to retire in your 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’ 2021 Consumer Expenditure Survey by the cost of living index for each state from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center’s 2022 cost of living series. To find how much money a retired person would need to save, we divided each state’s annual expenditures, minus the annual Social Security income as sourced from the Social Security Administration’s monthly statistical snapshot, February 2023, 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 April 18, 2023.

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