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. The EBRI survey found that less than half of workers — 42% — had tried to figure out how much they would need to have saved by the time they retired to live comfortably.
Using an online retirement calculator is a great way to get an estimate of how much you should save to retire by a certain age. To give you an idea, though, of when you might realistically be able to retire and how much in savings you would need depending on where you live, GOBankingRates crunched the numbers for you.
To determine the most realistic retirement age in every state, GOBankingRates first calculated the median income by age in every state using Census Bureau data to find out how much people could set aside in savings at various ages. Then GOBankingRates used findings from its January 2020 study on how much savings one needs across America to retire comfortably to pinpoint an ideal savings target amount for each state. To find out how long it would take workers in every state to save up to the state’s ideal savings target, GOBankingRates assumed the following:
- Workers started work at age 22.
- Workers followed the 50/30/20 rule — allocating 50% of personal income to necessities, 30% to wants and 20% to savings.
- Of the 20% of income that went into savings, 14% was put in a typical savings account and 6% was put into a 401(k) with a 50% employer match (up to 3%). In addition, the average annual return on investments in the 401(k) was assumed to be 5%.
Using the above assumptions, GOBankingRates found how much a worker in each state earning a median income could have saved at ages 24, 34, 44 and 58 to 77 years of age. Once the ideal savings target — as identified by the earlier GOBankingRates’ study — was met or exceeded, the following year was determined to be the ideal retirement age of each state.
You might be surprised to find that if you start saving 20% of your income starting at age 22, the realistic retirement age in your state might be sooner than you think. Or you might have to work longer than you expected.
Last updated: Jan. 23, 2020
Alabama
- Realistic retirement age: 59
- How much savings you need to retire: $723,989
- Total savings at 59: $759,485
Alaska
- Realistic retirement age: 64
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,213,517
- Total savings at 64: $1,301,392
Arizona
- Realistic retirement age: 58
- How much savings you need to retire: $862,583
- Total savings at 58: $905,975
Arkansas
- Realistic retirement age: 59
- How much savings you need to retire: $697,288
- Total savings at 59: $757,128
California
- Realistic retirement age: 66
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,369,911
- Total savings at 66: $1,442,638
Colorado
- Realistic retirement age: 56
- How much savings you need to retire: $908,357
- Total savings at 56: $970,746
Connecticut
- Realistic retirement age: 62
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,184,272
- Total savings at 62: $1,263,773
Delaware
- Realistic retirement age: 60
- How much savings you need to retire: $960,488
- Total savings at 60: $1,033,545
Florida
- Realistic retirement age: 61
- How much savings you need to retire: $843,510
- Total savings at 61: $907,809
Georgia
- Realistic retirement age: 57
- How much savings you need to retire: $737,976
- Total savings at 57: $776,321
Hawaii
- Realistic retirement age: 74
- How much savings you need to retire: $2,151,884
- Total savings at 74: $2,252,310
Idaho
- Realistic retirement age: 58
- How much savings you need to retire: $797,736
- Total savings at 58: $854,264
Illinois
- Realistic retirement age: 54
- How much savings you need to retire: $804,094
- Total savings at 54: $850,543
Indiana
- Realistic retirement age: 56
- How much savings you need to retire: $745,605
- Total savings at 56: $796,066
Iowa
- Realistic retirement age: 54
- How much savings you need to retire: $767,220
- Total savings at 54: $833,240
Kansas
- Realistic retirement age: 54
- How much savings you need to retire: $703,645
- Total savings at 54: $775,280
Kentucky
- Realistic retirement age: 59
- How much savings you need to retire: $774,849
- Total savings at 59: $829,737
Louisiana
- Realistic retirement age: 61
- How much savings you need to retire: $773,578
- Total savings at 61: $830,209
Maine
- Realistic retirement age: 65
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,083,824
- Total savings at 65: $1,154,700
Maryland
- Realistic retirement age: 59
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,238,947
- Total savings at 59: $1,311,381
Massachusetts
- Realistic retirement age: 59
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,249,119
- Total savings at 59: $1,313,236
Michigan
- Realistic retirement age: 55
- How much savings you need to retire: $732,890
- Total savings at 55: $767,587
Minnesota
- Realistic retirement age: 56
- How much savings you need to retire: $871,483
- Total savings at 56: $954,570
Mississippi
- Realistic retirement age: 61
- How much savings you need to retire: $666,772
- Total savings at 61: $710,727
Missouri
- Realistic retirement age: 55
- How much savings you need to retire: $725,261
- Total savings at 55: $783,803
Montana
- Realistic retirement age: 63
- How much savings you need to retire: $963,031
- Total savings at 63: $1,045,703
Nebraska
- Realistic retirement age: 54
- How much savings you need to retire: $758,320
- Total savings at 54: $819,381
Nevada
- Realistic retirement age: 59
- How much savings you need to retire: $899,456
- Total savings at 59: $940,900
New Hampshire
- Realistic retirement age: 55
- How much savings you need to retire: $956,674
- Total savings at 55: $1,032,939
New Jersey
- Realistic retirement age: 61
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,174,100
- Total savings at 61: $1,232,297
New Mexico
- Realistic retirement age: 60
- How much savings you need to retire: $720,175
- Total savings at 60: $767,592
New York
- Realistic retirement age: 66
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,308,879
- Total savings at 66: $1,376,839
North Carolina
- Realistic retirement age: 60
- How much savings you need to retire: $797,736
- Total savings at 60: $848,448
North Dakota
- Realistic retirement age: 56
- How much savings you need to retire: $820,623
- Total savings at 56: $883,964
Ohio
- Realistic retirement age: 56
- How much savings you need to retire: $772,306
- Total savings at 56: $819,207
Oklahoma
- Realistic retirement age: 56
- How much savings you need to retire: $687,116
- Total savings at 56: $723,520
Oregon
- Realistic retirement age: 66
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,334,309
- Total savings at 66: $1,415,540
Pennsylvania
- Realistic retirement age: 58
- How much savings you need to retire: $874,026
- Total savings at 58: $938,573
Rhode Island
- Realistic retirement age: 64
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,099,082
- Total savings at 64: $1,178,929
South Carolina
- Realistic retirement age: 59
- How much savings you need to retire: $801,551
- Total savings at 59: $873,676
South Dakota
- Realistic retirement age: 58
- How much savings you need to retire: $819,352
- Total savings at 58: $864,955
Tennessee
- Realistic retirement age: 56
- How much savings you need to retire: $707,460
- Total savings at 56: $745,133
Texas
- Realistic retirement age: 57
- How much savings you need to retire: $762,134
- Total savings at 57: $831,450
Utah
- Realistic retirement age: 53
- How much savings you need to retire: $815,537
- Total savings at 53: $887,851
Vermont
- Realistic retirement age: 60
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,060,937
- Total savings at 60: $1,113,893
Virginia
- Realistic retirement age: 54
- How much savings you need to retire: $885,470
- Total savings at 54: $935,494
Washington
- Realistic retirement age: 56
- How much savings you need to retire: $1,003,719
- Total savings at 56: $1,059,694
West Virginia
- Realistic retirement age: 60
- How much savings you need to retire: $754,505
- Total savings at 60: $803,997
Wisconsin
- Realistic retirement age: 57
- How much savings you need to retire: $811,723
- Total savings at 57: $871,002
Wyoming
- Realistic retirement age: 59
- How much savings you need to retire: $889,284
- Total savings at 59: $951,167
