The $1 Million Retirement Question: Which States Make Your Money Last Longest?

Planning a comfortable retirement used to mean having around $1 million saved up. But times have changed—with rising living costs and longer life expectancies, that million-dollar nest egg won’t stretch equally across America. The critical question isn’t just how much you’ve saved, but where you’ll spend it. How long will one million last in retirement? The answer ranges from just over a decade to nearly nine decades, depending entirely on your state.

The Extreme Ends: A Tale of Two Retirements

The disparity is striking. In Hawaii, retirees drawing on a $1 million portfolio combined with Social Security benefits would see those funds depleted in approximately 12.5 years. The monthly expenditure averages $2,761, translating to roughly $80,125 annually after accounting for Social Security income. Meanwhile, on the opposite end, West Virginia offers a dramatically different scenario—that same $1 million stretches for nearly 89 years, with annual post-Social Security living costs hovering around just $11,263.

This 76-year longevity gap reveals the fundamental reality: geographical choice can be as important as savings discipline. Three states—Hawaii (12 years), California (16 years), and Massachusetts (19 years)—would drain your million-dollar portfolio within two decades. Conversely, five states—Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia—could sustain retirees for 70+ years on the same amount.

Where Your Retirement Money Goes Fastest

The highest-cost retirement environments cluster in coastal and metropolitan regions. Beyond the Big Three, Washington state ($2,096 monthly) and New Jersey ($2,001 monthly) round out the most expensive tier. Colorado, despite its mountain-state reputation, lands in the sixth-most-expensive category at $1,899 monthly, followed by New Hampshire, Utah, Oregon, and Rhode Island—all requiring $2,000 or less monthly but still in the upper echelon nationally.

For these states, a million-dollar retirement fund combined with Social Security support typically sustains 20-30 years of comfortable living. The mathematical reality: higher housing costs, elevated healthcare expenses, and general cost-of-living pressures compress your purchasing power significantly.

The Comfort Zone: 30-50 Year Horizons

The middle tier of American states offers what many financial advisors consider the sweet spot—regions where $1 million produces 30-50 years of retirement security. This group includes unexpected entries like Nevada (31 years), Florida (34 years), and Virginia (35 years), alongside more traditionally affordable destinations like Wyoming (40 years), Minnesota (41 years), and North Carolina (43 years).

Texas residents enjoy a particularly favorable position, with annual living costs of $21,155 after Social Security, allowing a 47-year runway. Wisconsin, Georgia, and South Dakota similarly stretch that million-dollar nest egg across five decades of retirement living.

The Retirement Goldmines: Where Money Becomes Infinite

The true champions for retirement longevity are America’s lower-cost interior states. Indiana sees $1 million sustain nearly 60 years of retirement, Michigan approximately 60 years, and Missouri just under 61 years. But the standout performers are exceptional: Illinois (50 years), North Dakota (53 years), Pennsylvania (53 years), and Nebraska (55 years).

The ultimate retirement destinations from a duration perspective are Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia, where annual living expenses range from $11,000-$13,000. Here, how long will one million last in retirement becomes almost academic—76 to 89 years represents effectively lifetime security, even before accounting for additional income sources or investment growth.

The Social Security Factor

A critical element undergirding all these calculations is Social Security income. The average individual retiree receives approximately $1,900-$2,000 monthly from Social Security (based on November 2024 data), substantially reducing the annual draw from private savings. This subsidy proves more impactful in lower-cost-of-living states, where Social Security alone covers 40-50% of annual expenses versus 25-30% in high-cost regions.

Geography as Strategy

The methodology behind these findings examined cost-of-living indices across grocery, healthcare, housing, utilities, and transportation categories. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics expenditure data for retired individuals and regional cost-of-living indices from November 2024, researchers calculated how individual monthly expenses vary by state.

For 36 states, $1 million combined with Social Security provides at least 30 years of retirement security. This suggests most Americans have reasonable flexibility in choosing retirement locations while maintaining purchasing power. However, the 3-state concentration of rapid fund depletion (Hawaii, California, Massachusetts) and the 5-state concentration of extreme longevity (Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia) demonstrates that intentional location selection could extend retirement security by 40-50 years for equivalent savings.

The Bottom Line

Whether retirement security means 15 years, 50 years, or nearly a century of comfort depends less on your savings discipline alone and more on where you choose to deploy those savings. The difference between retiring in Hawaii versus retiring in Mississippi isn’t just a change of scenery—it’s a fundamental shift in financial sustainability. For those approaching retirement with $1 million and Social Security income, the geographic decision may ultimately determine whether retirement feels rushed or genuinely endless.

Data sourced from: U.S. Census American Community Survey, Missouri Economic and Research Information Center, Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey (January 2025)