Retirees with one million dollars in their savings would do well to settle down in the South or Midwest, finds a new ranking assessing where retirement savings last longest in the nation.
The SmartAsset study finds 22 U.S. cities where $1 million will last 28 years or longer, and Texas took the top two spots. McAllen was number one, as $1 million correlates with 33.03 years, housing expenses were $5,681, food expenses were $5,039, and health care expenses total $4,646, Business Insider reports. About 40 minutes down I-2 in Harlingen, Texas, $1 million affords retirees 31.68 years of living with $6,154 in housing expenses, $5,519 in health care costs, and food expenses at $4,996.
It is getting harder to retire with only $1 million saved up. Ten years ago, $1 million had the same buying power of just under $1.2 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator. In a new study, SmartAsset calculated the average cost of living for retirees to see how many years $1 million would last in over 250 big and mid-sized US cities. SmartAsset looked at average annual expenses for seniors throughout the country and applied cost of living data on housing, food, healthcare, transportation, and utilities.