Don’t Even Think About Living In This State Unless You Make At Least $300,000

If you want to live comfortably in Massachusetts, the most expensive state in the United States, a family of four should have an income of at least $300,000 annually, according to research conducted by SmartAsset. 

To live comfortably, a household must allocate 50% of income to essential expenses, 30% to discretionary spending, and 20% to debt repayment and savings, adhering to the 50/30/20 budgeting framework,

The same analysis found that Boston’s cost of living of more than 4% outpaced the U.S. national average of 3.87% in 2024. A separate analysis conducted by SmartAsset found that Boston is also the most expensive city in the country to raise a child, with the bulk of the annual $39,22 cost coming from child care. 

“In comparison, the national average of raising a child in the U.S. is about $15,800,” ConsumerAffairs media relations specialist Brooklyn Bannister said. “[A key factor] that attributes to it is they have also the 4th highest housing cost, with about $5,000 extra annually for families.”

SmartAsset drew on MIT Living Wage Calculator data to assess the basic cost of living for a single individual without children and for two working adults with two children, incorporating expenses for housing, food, transportation, income taxes, and other miscellaneous costs.

CNBC reports: 

The cost of living for families in other states may not be quite as high as in Massachusetts, but three states — Vermont, New Jersey and Montana — are on track to rapidly catch up, with double-digit growth rates from 2024, found SmartAsset’s report.

On the flip side, overall costs of living actually shrank from 2024 in six states, the report said: Hawaii, New York, Georgia, Delaware, Michigan and Iowa.

In contrast, Mississippi stands as the most affordable state, where a family of four needs a minimum annual income of $186,618 to live comfortably, according to SmartAsset. 

More key findings from SmartAsset:

• Hawaii is the most expensive state for a single adult to live comfortably. It takes a salary of $124,467 for a single adult to cover needs, wants, long-term savings and income taxes in the Aloha State. This is up 9.48% from just a year ago, when the same level of comfort was estimated to be earned at $113,693.

• Adults in West Virginia need just $80,829 to live comfortably. Singletons in West Virginia need least of any state, maintaining its ranking from last year when a single adult needed $78,790. However, families need the lowest income in Mississippi, where the 2025 household income needed is just $186,618 across two earners.

• Families in Vermont and New Jersey may be feeling their income squeezed. When it comes to the household income needed for a family to live comfortably, Vermont saw the highest one-year increase at 15.48% to $286,790. New Jersey followed closely behind with a 12.55% increase to $282,714.

• The salary needed to live comfortably for an adult jumped nearly 10% in Montana. Montana saw the highest annual increase in income needed for an adult, with a 9.57% increase to $92,851. The income needed for families had a similarly abrupt change, jumping 11.14% to $234,957 – third-highest studywide.

Meanwhile, here are the top 10 states where the salary needed to live is the lowest.