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Cost of Living Analysis: Annual Income Needed for Basic Expenses in the Cheapest U.S. States
July 9, 2024
A recent SmartAsset analysis reveals that a single person needs an annual income of $40,000 to cover basic expenses in the most affordable U.S. states.
West Virginia tops the list as the state with the lowest cost of living, followed closely by Arkansas and Oklahoma. In West Virginia, a single-person household requires a pre-tax income of $39,386 to meet essential costs such as housing, transportation, healthcare, taxes, and other everyday expenses, according to the MIT Living Wage calculator.
While the median annual wage for full-time American workers is nearly $60,000, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, minimum wage workers in the least expensive states earn significantly less. For example, with West Virginia's $8.75 hourly minimum wage, a 40-hour workweek results in an annual income of just $18,200.