2014 Retirement Income Study

by Reed Karaim, Interest.com, October 9, 2014

The rule of thumb among financial experts is that you need about 70% of your pre-retirement income once you quit working if you wish to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.

Yet there is only one state, Nevada, where households of those 65 and over are making at least 70% of the income earned by households between 45 and 64 years of age, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data.

In the vast majority of states, retired households earn just 50% to 60% of the income of those in the age group immediately below them.

Nationally, these older Americans have incomes that average just 59% of those aged 45 to 64, far below the replacement level suggested by financial planners and other experts.

Here is the median income for the pre- and post-retirement cohorts based on Census Bureau data.

We then calculated the “replacement” percentage for each state based on those income numbers, how much that had changed since 2011 and the percent of households led by someone 65 and over in each state....

read ... 2014 Retirement Income Study

Editor's Note: Hawaii retirees have 3rd highest replacement income, beaten only by Nevada and Washington, DC  In raw income numbers, Hawaii is number 1 at $55,560, Alaska is #2 at $53,822.