3 Reasons You Need at Least $620K (Plus Social Security) To Retire in Georgia

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Everyone enjoys daydreaming about retirement once in a while. But most Americans — 53% — say they’ve fallen behind on planning and saving, according to a CNBC poll. That raises the question: How much do you really need to retire now, anyway?

If you’d like to spend your golden years in Georgia, you’ll need at least $620,000, according to GOBankingRates’ analysis. But factors like the length of your retirement and lifestyle can impact that.

Why You Need $620K Minimum To Retire in Georgia

Georgia is a relatively inexpensive place to retire. It costs a little over $725,000 to fund a 20-year retirement in the U.S. on average, but just $620,000 to do so here — provided you are also receiving Social Security.

There are three main reasons why retiring in Georgia can be a smart financial move:

1. Housing is relatively cheap, coming in at around $2,000 less than the national average.
2. Georgia has a flat tax rate and offers special tax benefits to retirees.
3. Groceries, utilities, transportation and healthcare all cost retirees less in Georgia than the national average.

The Math

Annually, living in Georgia costs an average of $52,557. However, your retirement savings won’t have to cover all of that. The average older American also gets around $21,567 per year from Social Security. That means your retirement savings just have to cover the remaining $30,990 annually.

From here, it’s easy to calculate the amount of money you’ll need for your retirement in Georgia. Just multiply $30,990 by the number of years you want to cover. That comes out to around:

• $620,000 for 20 years
• $775,000 for 25 years
• $931,000 for 30 years

However, these figures are only estimates based on how the average Georgian lives. Your personal retirement costs can vary quite a bit. That’s why it’s important to consider the assumptions made when calculating the average cost of living in Georgia.

Will You Need More or Less Than $620K?

It’s technically possible to retire in Georgia with less than $620,000 — but only if you save money in places where the average Georgian doesn’t. These are the annual amounts Georgians spend on necessities, compared to the national average:

• $4,677 on groceries vs. $4,797
• $9,096 on housing vs. $11,692
• $3,740 on utilities vs. $4,236
• $4,582 on transportation vs. $4,943
• $7,502 on healthcare vs. $7,540

If you want to retire on less than $620,000, you need to save in at least one of these categories. Doing so will bring your total living expenses down, and you can multiply those savings by the number of retirement years you’re planning for.

So do you really need at least $620,000 to retire in Georgia? It depends on how much you spend in your next act.

Saving on Retirement in Georgia

The average American has to save $725,025 for a 20-year retirement — so Georgians are already ahead by more than $100,000. But if you need to retire on less than that, consider using one of the following ways to save.

Consider Leaving Metro Atlanta

The cost of living in Atlanta is about 10% higher than the state average. Much of this comes from Atlanta’s housing costs, which are 29% higher than in the rest of the state.

If you live in Atlanta or were planning to move there for retirement and don’t think your funds will last you, you may want to consider retiring elsewhere in Georgia. Doing so could save you thousands on housing and other expenses annually.

Downgrade If Possible

You can also consider moving into more humble lodgings. For example, some parents choose to sell the family home and move into a condo in retirement.

Supplement Your Retirement Income

At a certain point, it gets difficult to continue cutting your expenses without sacrificing your quality of life. If you get there, start looking for ways to bring in more income in retirement. You could:

• Teach or tutor on the side
• Invest or trade stocks
• Drive for a ridesharing service
• Sell items you make through a hobby like woodworking
• Pet sit or walk dogs
• Rent out part of your home through a platform like Airbnb

Try Another State

If all else fails, you can try retiring in another state to save money. Nearby options like Alabama and Mississippi are slightly less expensive than Georgia — especially if you live rurally.

However, the South as a whole is among the cheapest places to retire in the U.S. If you can’t afford to do it here, you may struggle to do so anywhere. But don’t worry: This just means you need a new plan to reach your goal.

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 the 65 year and older expenditures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey by the cost of living index for each state from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center’s Q3 2023 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, March 2022, by 0.0333%, 0.04% and 0.05% assuming 20, 25 and 30 years of retirement, respectively. All data was collected and is up to date as of Jan. 8, 2024.

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