The financial services company used Cambridge-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator to determine the basic cost of living — including housing, food, transportation and income taxes — for a single individual with no children. It then applied these costs to a 50/30/20 budget to determine a “comfortable” salary, assuming 50% of income would be spent on needs, 30% on wants and 20% on savings or debt payments.
Here are the comfortable salary thresholds for a single adult in each state, according to SmartAsset, listed from highest to lowest:
1. Massachusetts — $116,022
2. Hawaii — $113,693
3. California — $113,651
4. New York — $111,738
5. Washington — $106,496
6. Colorado — $103,293
7. New Jersey — $103,002
8. Maryland — $102,918
9. Oregon — $101,088
10. Rhode Island — $100,838
11. Connecticut — $100,381
12. Virginia — $99,965
13. New Hampshire — $98,093
14. Arizona — $97,344
15. Georgia — $96,886
16. Alaska — $96,762
17. Vermont — $95,763
18. Illinois — $95,098
19. Delaware — $94,141
20. Utah — $93,683
21. Nevada — $93,434
22. Florida — $93,309
23. Maine — $91,686
24. Pennsylvania — $91,312
25. North Carolina — $89,690
26. Minnesota — $89,232
27. Idaho — $88,733
28. South Carolina — $88,317
29. Wyoming — $87,651
30. Texas — $87,027
31. Tennessee — $86,403
32. Indiana — $85,030
33. Montana — $84,739
34. Kansas — $84,656
35. Michigan — $84,365
36. Wisconsin — $84,115
37. Missouri — $84,032
38. Alabama — $83,824
39. Nebraska — $83,699
40. New Mexico — $83,616
41. Iowa — $83,366
42. Mississippi — $82,742
43. Louisiana — $82,451
44. South Dakota — $81,453
45 (tie). Kentucky — $80,704
45 (tie). Ohio — $80,704
47. North Dakota — $80,538
48. Oklahoma — $80,413
49. Arkansas — $79,456
50. West Virginia — $78,790
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