- A recent study by SmartAsset found that single adults with no kids (SINKs) in the U.S. need an average income of $102,648 to live comfortably, far above the national average salary of $59,228, with affordability varying significantly by state. While earlier research suggested happiness plateaus at a certain income, newer studies show that for many, happiness continues to increase with higher earnings, especially beyond $100,000.
If you feel like you simply haven’t got enough money in the bank to enjoy a comfortable life, you’re not alone.
A recent study from financial advisors SmartAsset found that even in America’s most affordable state, West Virginia, single adults with no kids (SINKs) need to earn at least $80,829 to live comfortably.
By SmartAsset’s metrics, this means being able to afford some lifestyle benefits such as hobbies and vacations, as well as financial goals such as retirement savings and education funds. Moreover, that salary also needs to cover housing, groceries, transportation and medical expenses.
The study was modeled on the popular 50/30/20 budget rule, which suggests allocating 50% of income to necessities, 30% to discretionary spending, and 20% to long-term goals like retirement savings or paying off debt.
For some people, a vacation and the ability to save for older age are a given of employment.
Yet for a huge portion of society, living a secure financial life is the definition of the American Dream.
The average wage needed to comfortably live in America as a single adult is now more than six figures: $102,648, according to SmartAsset.
This is a far cry from the average salaries of Americans.
In June 2024, Fidelity analyzed the Bureau of Labor Statistics to discover that the average salary for workers in the U.S. is $59,228—a fraction of the average funds needed to live comfortably in any state SmartAsset analyzed.
Men fared relatively better than women, taking home a median wage of $1,227 per week or $63,804 per year. For women, that figure stood at $1,021 per week or $53,092 per year—approximately a fifth less than their male counterparts.
Hawaii was the least affordable state for staffers to live comfortably and save for the future. There, staffers need to earn a little over $124,000 to enjoy a holiday, pay their bills, and save for the long term.
For a family of four, that figure skyrockets to over $294,000.
Massachusetts was the second-most expensive state and the state where it is most costly to raise a family, coming in at a little over $120,000 per SINK and near $314,000 for a family.
The most affordable state in the U.S. is West Virginia, where a SINK can live comfortably on just under $81,000 a year.
However, it’s not the most inexpensive state to raise a family. That goes to Mississippi, where SINK’s need $86,320 to live comfortably alone, but families need $186,618.
Other more affordable states for both single workers and families include Arkansas, North and South Dakota, Kentucky and Alabama.
Comfort or happiness?
Of course, some Americans will not just aspire to be comfortable financially but want to earn enough to make them happy.
Previously, barometers have suggested that a certain figure can be attained to achieve happiness, and then the effects of more money don’t improve outlook.
For example, in 2010 the late Daniel Kahneman, a winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, and his colleague and fellow Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, found that happiness increases with income up until $75,000, after which it plateaus.
But in 2021—more than a decade later, a new study discovered that for some people the limit on how much money could improve people’s happiness does not exist.
University of Pennsylvania professor Matthew Killingsworth found that happiness increased alongside income with no limit.
A further study, submitted a year later, discovered that correlations between money and happiness were split into three groups based on well-being: the least happy, the middle-range happy, and the most happy.
Economists found that happiness rose with income until $100,000 for the least happy group and then plateaued. For those in the middle range of emotional well-being, happiness continued increasing linearly with income with no limit. For the happiest group, happiness rose and accelerated once they were past $100,000.
