This Is the Cheapest State for Americans to Retire in 2020

If you don’t plan on moving to Panama or Portugal when you retire — your loss, btw — you’re stuck having to pick the best state to retire in.

And if you’re picking a place based entirely on your retirement savings, head to Mississippi. That’s where your post-career dollars will last the longest, according to a recent study by the personal finance site GOBankingRates.

In GBR’s report (“How Long $100,000 Will Last You in Retirement”), the company based their results on Bureau of Labor Statistics retiree expenditure data and “other research” (including per-capita cost of living) … and assuming you have $100,000 in your retirement nest egg, which 38% of American workers do not have.

The “top” states for cheap retirement:

Mississippi
Oklahoma
Michigan
Arkansas/Alabama (tied)
Missouri

But don’t go moving just yet; the cost of moving itself could force you into new debts. “We try to catch people before they make a decision such as moving to a different state for retirement and taking out a mortgage that’s double what they currently have,” as Nick Holeman, head of financial planning at the online investment firm Betterment, told Yahoo! Money.

Plus, you’re not getting that far on $100,000 — even in Mississippi, that’s a bit less than three years.

The hardest place to retire? Hawaii, where $100K will last just over a year, and it’s $20,000 more expensive to live per year than the second-most expensive state, California. Don’t go here except for vacation or if you have $2 million bundled away.

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Meet your guide

Kirk Miller

Kirk Miller is InsideHook’s Senior Lifestyle Editor (and longest-serving resident). He writes a lot about whisk(e)y, cocktails, consumer goods and artificial intelligence.