Senior Citizens' Incomes Fall Short in 47 of 50 States

Northern States Fare Worst in New Analysis

NEW YORK, May 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Senior citizens in 47 states and the District of Columbia aren't replacing enough of their pre-retirement incomes, according to a new Bankrate.com RATE study. Many financial experts believe retirees need at least 70% of the income they earned in their working years, but only seniors in Hawaii, Alaska and South Carolina meet that threshold.

Nationally, the median income for those who are 65 and older is just 60% of the median income among 45 to 64 year-olds. The 15 states with the largest retirement income gaps are all located in the northern half of the country; Massachusetts has the largest gap. Click here for the complete rankings:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/retirement/study-seniors-incomes-dont-go-far-enough.aspx

"These numbers help illustrate how underprepared many Americans are for retirement," said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate.com's chief financial analyst. "It's especially important for millennials to save aggressively because they face the biggest retirement savings burden of any generation in American history."

Bankrate.com examined the U.S. Census Bureau's 2014 American Community Survey (the most recent edition). For each state and Washington, D.C., Bankrate divided the median annual household income for those who are 65 and older by the median annual household income for those between 45 and 64 years old.

The Census Bureau broadly defines income to include wages, salaries, tips, social security, welfare, interest, dividends, pensions, income from defined contribution retirement plans (such as 401(k)s and IRAs), rental properties, royalties and other sources.

About Bankrate.com:

Bankrate.com provides consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life's financial journey. For over two decades, Bankrate.com has been a leading personal finance destination. The company offers award-winning editorial content, competitive rate information, and calculators and tools across multiple categories, including mortgages, deposits, credit cards, retirement, automobile loans, and taxes. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets, Bankrate generates rate tables in all 50 U.S. states. Bankrate develops and provides web services to more than 100 cobranded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the internet, such as Comcast, Yahoo!, CNBC and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to more than 500 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.

For more information:

Ted Rossman
Public Relations Director
ted.rossman@bankrate.com
(917) 368-8635