'Comfortable' Living in Florida: $97K a Year
Compared to high-cost states like New York and California, the income level needed in Florida to live "comfortably with a good quality of life" is lower.
MIAMI — A single adult in Florida needs to make nearly $100,000 a year to “live comfortably” in 2025, according to a report from finance website SmartAsset.
The June report used data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator and considered a budget with 50% of income going to necessities, 30% for discretionary spending and 20% for long-term goals such as retirement or debt repayment to evaluate what’s considered “living comfortably.”
SmartAsset defines living comfortably as “being able to afford hobbies, vacations, retirement savings, education funds, and the occasional emergency — in addition to necessities like housing, groceries, transportation and medical expenses.”
Families need to see an income increase each year to maintain the same lifestyle under inflation. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the overall 12-month inflation rate is 2.7% as of June, with steeper increases for some categories, such as food and shelter.
A single adult in Florida needs to make $97,386 a year to live comfortably, SmartAsset reports, while a family of four would need an income of $217,651.
Since SmartAsset calculated the wage needed to “live comfortably,” it’s quite a bit higher than what MIT calculates as the state’s “living wage,” or just enough to cover essentials such as food, housing, medical care, transportation and more. MIT reports the living wage for an individual in Florida is an annual salary $51,528, and $83,334. for couples with one child.
Here’s how the top 25 states compared for the annual income needed for an individual to live comfortably:
1. Hawaii: $124,467
2. Massachusetts: $120,141
3. California: $119,475
4. New York: $114,691
5. Washington: $109,658
6. New Jersey: $108,992
7. Maryland: $108,867
8. Virginia: $106,704
9. Colorado: $105,955
10. Connecticut: $105,165
11. Oregon: $104,666
12. New Hampshire: $103,085
13. Arizona: $101,587
14. Rhode Island: $101,338
15. Alaska: $100,298
16. Vermont: $99,632
17. Georgia: $99,590
18. Utah: $99,466
19. Nevada: $99,216
20. Illinois: $98,010
21. Delaware: $97,469
22. Florida: $97,386
23. Maine: $96,595
24. Idaho: $96,429
25. Pennsylvania: $95,306
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