How Much a Single Person Needs To Retire Comfortably in Each State With a Part-Time Paycheck
How Much a Single Person Needs To Retire Comfortably in Each State With a Part-Time Paycheck.
The typical single retiree needs about $698,800 nationwide with a part-time job earning $20,000 a year.
Even with $10,000 a year in part-time pay for a decade, no state requires a $1 million nest egg for one person.
Retiring solo doesn't cut costs in half because many expenses, like housing and utilities, don't shrink much for one person.
How does part-time work reduce retirement savings requirements?
Retiring solo can make the math tougher: There's no second Social Security check, no partner to split bills with, and less room if savings fall short. That's where a part-time paycheck can make a big difference.
More older Americans are going through retirement alone . Nearly 3 in 10 people 65 and older live by themselves, most of them women, and their share has been climbing for decades. And the older you are, the more likely you are to be single: 43% of women 75-plus are on their own, partly because women live longer.
A single retiree needs about $898,000 saved to retire comfortably, on average nationwide, according to an Investopedia analysis of government data. That's well below the $1.46 million Americans said they'll need, according to a Northwestern Mutual survey out earlier this year.
But part-time work in retirement can lower the target even further. Earning just $10,000 a year for 10 years means there's no state where a single retiree would need a $1 million nest egg.
Couples often have two Social Security checks and two people's savings to help cover the bills. A solo retiree usually has one check and one nest egg—while still carrying many of the same fixed costs. That makes even modest part-time income more powerful.
Financial advisors have long used the 4% rule as a rough guide for how much retirees can withdraw from savings each year. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data on expenses for people 65 and older and typical Social Security benefits, Investopedia estimated the nest egg needed to cover the gap between spending and income.
From there, the math is simple: Each dollar earned from part-time work over the first 10 years of retirement reduces the savings target by a dollar.
Earn $10,000 a year for 10 years, and the nest egg target drops by $100,000. But a typical part-time worker earns more than that, with median weekly pay of about $400, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—roughly $20,000 a year. At that rate, even 5 years of part-time work would reduce the savings target by $100,000, while 10 years would mean needing about $200,000 less.
There is one caveat for younger retirees: If you're under full retirement age , Social Security may temporarily withhold benefits once earnings pass a certain threshold. In 2026, that limit is $24,480. If you can earn up to that limit from part-time work for 10 years, the typical nest egg needed nationwide drops to about $653,000. (Once you reach full retirement age, extra earnings—of any amount—will no longer reduce your Social Security benefits.)
Money left untouched can keep compounding , so a paycheck early in retirement protects savings more than the same earnings later on.
Without part-time earnings, a single retiree needs at least $1 million in three states—California, Hawaii, and New Jersey—plus Washington, D.C. Earn $10,000 a year for a decade, and none cross that mark.
The priciest states still require the biggest nest eggs, but part-time income brings the targets down sharply. In New Jersey, a solo retiree needs about $1.02 million without part-time income, or about $818,000 with $20,000 a year for 10 years. Hawaii and California are close behind.
Retiring alone doesn't mean you need half the nest egg of a couple. In New Jersey, a couple with one person working part-time needs about $1.13 million, compared with the $818,000 a single retiree needs with the same part-time income. One person may spend less on food and daily expenses, but rent, utilities, taxes, and other fixed costs don't fall by half.
At the other end of the map, the lowest savings targets are far below the national average. North Dakota requires about $444,000 for a single retiree earning $20,000 a year part-time, with Arkansas and Mississippi close behind.
