The retirement crisis continues unabated.
While many American workers qualify for Social Security in retirement, these benefits are rarely enough to cover living expenses— particularly considering inevitable added costs for health care and aging, not to mention increases in general.
Tax-advantaged retirement accounts are the front line of defense in combating the impending crisis. On average, Americans have roughly one year’s worth of their current annual income saved in tax-advantaged accounts ($80,000). Though the true purchasing power that represents vacillates greatly depending on the state and tax treatment.
SmartAsset recently ranked the 40 U.S. states with available census data by average household retirement savings—based on the median household savings placed in tax-advantaged retirement accounts, including comparisons to household income and a breakdown of retirement-account preferences. (Ten states—Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wyoming—were not ranked as full data was not available.)
Massachusetts took the top spot with $150,000 in mean retirement savings, nearly doubling the national average of $80,000. Of those funds, a whopping 75% were in tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Hawaii came in a close second with a mean of $149,000. The rest of the top 10 had a distinct northeastern feel, as half of the states were from that region, including New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Notably, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Minnesota all also made the top 10 of a recent Wallethub study of best states to retire in in 2026. Interestingly, Hawaii ranked among the bottom five states in that study.
As for the bottom of this study, it’s largely the same, mostly southern suspects one would expect. Mississippi takes the wooden spoon, with median retirement savings sitting at a paltry $35,000—less than half the national average—only 41.8% of which is in tax-advantaged accounts. Other lowlights largely mirror the results of the aforementioned Wallethub study, with Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas and West Virginia all making repeat appearances.
Here are the 10 best and 10 worst states for retirement savings.
