The Most Realistic Retirement Age in Every State

See how much you need to save to retire by a certain age.

Go Banking Rates, Jan 23, 2020

At what age do you hope to retire? If you’re like the majority of workers, you’re probably planning to stop punching the clock by the time you turn 65.

A survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that 54% of respondents said they expect to retire at age 65 or younger. However, a significant percentage of workers expect to keep clocking in until they’re much older. One-third of respondents said they don’t expect to retire until they’re 70 or older. Some don’t plan to retire at all.

It’s one thing to have an idea of when you want to retire. It’s another thing altogether to know whether you’ll actually be able to retire. Several factors can affect your retirement plans — including whether you’ll have enough saved by your ideal retirement age to stop working…..

Although “full retirement age” for Social Security purposes isn’t until age 67, the average retirement age in every single state — with the exception of the District of Columbia — is below 67. On average, retirees in the U.S. hang up their work boots at age 64, according to Money Talks News.

Of course, to truly live a comfortable retirement takes more than desire — it also takes a large chunk of cash. To determine just how much it takes, GOBankingRates analyzed consumption expenditures of Americans ages 65 and older, based on data sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Survey. Expenses in a variety of basic necessity categories were included, from annual spending on groceries to the cost of housing, utilities, transportation and healthcare. These were then adjusted to every state’s itemized cost of living index and an additional savings buffer of 20% was added. Based on this data, the average savings needed to retire across America as a whole is $1,311,794.45.

If nothing else, the study proves two things. First, the state in which you live can play a big role in how early you can retire, as evidenced by the low average retirement ages across wide swaths of the South and Midwest. Next, it takes more than $1 million to have a comfortable retirement in any state in America — or over $2 million in the case of Hawaii and the District of Columbia…

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Hawaii

• Average retirement age: 66
• Annual cost of a comfortable retirement: $117,724.18
• Retirement savings needed: $2,354,483.55