Hoping to retire a few years early? You may want to consider moving to Mississippi.
While retirement is a highly personal endeavor and takes into account many factors, like how well you want to live in your golden years, there are ways to get there sooner. And that’s by seeking out places to live where your retirement dollar can go further.
GoBankingRates analyzed all 50 states and the District of Columbia to figure out the average retirement income one needs to live comfortably across the U.S. And, according to its findings, Mississippi comes out on top.
To come to this finding, the researchers looked at five factors, including “an individual’s spending on groceries, healthcare, housing, utilities, and transportation,” according to the report. The team then calculated the annual retirement income needed to cover these living expenses and added 20 percent to create a “comfortable” budget. (Note: The findings do not account for Social Security payouts, pension income, or interest from savings accounts.)
Mississippi’s total yearly expenditures came out to $44,059. When the team added the 20 percent “comfort buffer” of $11,015, the “cost of a comfortable retirement” became $55,074.
That’s a stark difference from the most expensive state in the U.S. — Hawaii. There, GoBankingRates found that someone would need enough to cover $96,982 in expenditure costs and $24,246 for a total of $121,228 for a comfortable retirement.
Of course, there are plenty of states in between to explore too. The second-most affordable state for retirement, the team said, is Oklahoma, which came to $56,508 for its comfortable retirement figure, closely followed by Alabama in third, at $56,769.
But, if you’re looking for somewhere even more affordable than Mississippi, you may want to keep going further south, right down to Aguascalientes, Mexico. In September, GoBakingRates released a different study, showing that it’s entirely possible to retire to the Mexican city for under $1,000 a month.