The salary a single person needs to live comfortably in every U.S. state

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By News Room 5 Min Read

A single person will need to earn over six figures to live comfortably in the most expensive U.S. states, a SmartAsset analysis reveals.

“Comfortable” is defined as the monthly income needed to cover a 50/30/20 budget, which allocates 50% of your earnings for necessities like housing and utility costs, 30% for discretionary spending and 20% for savings or investments.

The income needed for each state was extrapolated based on the cost of necessities, using data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator.

Here’s a look at the five most-costly states for single workers, based on how much money residents would need to earn each year to live comfortably.

  1. Massachusetts: $116,022
  2. Hawaii: $113,693
  3. California: $113,651
  4. New York: $111,738
  5. Washington: $106,496

To live comfortably on your own in these states, you’d need to earn nearly double what most single earners typically make, as the U.S median income for single, full-time workers is around $60,000, per Labor Bureau data.

The national median for living comfortably alone is $89,461, which suggests that a 50/30/20 budget might not be practical for most single people.

Living alone comes with added costs that can be more than double what you’d spend if you lived with someone else — otherwise known as the “singles tax.” Housing is the most obvious expense, but single people also pay extra costs for groceries, travel, transportation and entertainment.

To make ends meet, people might need to find room elsewhere in their budget to live alone. That could be living in a small apartment or spending less on discretionary purchases, like travel.

Here’s a look at the income needed to live comfortably in each state, listed in alphabetical order.

Alabama

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $83,824

Alaska

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $96,762

Arizona

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $97,344

Arkansas

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $79,456

California

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $113,651

Colorado

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $103,292

Connecticut

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $100,381

Delaware

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $94,141

Florida

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $93,309

Georgia

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $96,886

Hawaii

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $113,693

Idaho

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $88,733

Illinois

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $95,098

Indiana

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $85,030

Iowa

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $83,366

Kansas

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $84,656

Kentucky

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $80,704

Louisiana

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $82,451

Maine

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $91,686

Maryland

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $102,918

Massachusetts

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $116,022

Michigan

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $84,365

Minnesota

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $89,232

Mississippi

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $82,742

Missouri

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $84,032

Montana

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $84,739

Nebraska

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $83,699

Nevada

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $93,434

New Hampshire

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $98,094

New Jersey

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $103,002

New Mexico

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $83,616

New York

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $111,738

North Carolina

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $89,690

North Dakota

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $52,807

Ohio

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $80,704

Oklahoma

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $80,413

Oregon

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $101,088

Pennsylvania

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $91,312

Rhode Island

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $100,838

South Carolina

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $88,317

South Dakota

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $81,453

Tennessee

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $86,403

Texas

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $87,027

Utah

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $93,683

Vermont

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $95,763

Virginia

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $99,965

Washington

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $106,496

West Virginia

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $78,790

Wisconsin

  • Annual income needed to live comfortably: $84,115

Wyoming

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