A family of four living in New York state now needs a staggering $276,973 per year to live comfortably, a new study has found.
Amidst persistent inflation, SmartAsset performed a study analyzing the cost of housing and groceries in each state, defining “comfort” through the lens of the “50/30/20 budget rule.”
This budgeting guideline advises that individuals should allocate 50% of their income to essentials, 30% to personal spending, and 20% towards long-term objectives like retiring savings or debt repayment, according to the authors of the study.
With the average household income in New York currently around $126,000, most families are managing on about half of what would be deemed necessary for comfort as per SmartAsset’s criteria.
While New York is certainly pricey for families, it’s the cheapest in the tri-state area, according to the study.
In neighboring New Jersey, a family of four now needs $282,713 to live comfortably.
SmartAsset says the Garden State is one of the areas where costs are rising most rapidly. Just a year ago, a family of four needed $251,181 to live comfortably there, meaning overall costs have surged a whopping 12.55% in the past year alone.
Meanwhile, Connecticut was the costliest in the tri-state area, with a family of four now needing an annual income of $290,368 to be comfortable.
The priciest state for a family of four in the US is currently Massachusetts, per the study, where $313,747 is needed to live by the 50/30/20 budget rule.
Meanwhile, the state with the lowest household income needed for a family of four is Mississippi, where $186,618 is required to live in relative comfort.
