How Much You Need To Retire Rich in 9 Big California Cities
With 840 miles of pristine coastline, ancient redwood forests, vast deserts, nine national parks and a broad and diverse collection of unique cultures and communities, California would be the ultimate retirement haven — if it weren’t for the Golden State’s notoriously high cost of living.
Learn More: Retirement Planning: How Much the Average Person Under 70 Spends Monthly
Find Out: The Surprising Way You Can Get Guaranteed Retirement Income for Life
To retire in California is one thing, but how wealthy would you have to be to support an especially rich retirement in the state’s biggest cities for decades on end?
To find out, GOBankingRates used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sperling’s Best and the Social Security Administration to calculate living costs in nine major California cities, determined the minimum nest egg needed to retire comfortably in them, and then doubled it.
When reading, keep in mind that the savings needed to retire rich in the U.S. as a whole is $1,392,738 for 20 years, $1,740,922 for 25 years and $2,091,198 for 30 years. The following is a breakdown of the results.
San Francisco
Savings needed for 20 years of retiring rich: $4,757,745
Savings needed for 25 years of retiring rich: $5,947,182
Savings needed for 30 years of retiring rich: $7,143,762
Try This: 8 Things Boomers Should Sell Right Before Retiring
Read Next: Early Retirement: Here’s How Much Savings Is Needed To Retire by 40 in Every State
Wealthy people know the best money secrets. Learn how to copy them.
San Jose
Savings needed for 20 years of retiring rich: $4,422,401
Savings needed for 25 years of retiring rich: $5,528,001
Savings needed for 30 years of retiring rich: $6,640,241
Trending Now: 5 Places in America To Retire That Are Just as Cheap as Mexico, Portugal and Costa Rica
Oakland
Savings needed for 20 years of retiring rich: $3,601,385
Savings needed for 25 years of retiring rich: $4,501,732
Savings needed for 30 years of retiring rich: $5,407,485
Long Beach
Savings needed for 20 years of retiring rich: $2,819,686
Savings needed for 25 years of retiring rich: $3,524,607
Savings needed for 30 years of retiring rich: $4,233,763
Los Angeles
Savings needed for 20 years of retiring rich: $2,819,686
Savings needed for 25 years of retiring rich: $3,524,607
Savings needed for 30 years of retiring rich: $4,233,763
Be Aware: 4 Reasons Retired Women Need More Money Than Men — And What To Do About it
San Diego
Savings needed for 20 years of retiring rich: $2,662,421
Savings needed for 25 years of retiring rich: $3,328,026
Savings needed for 30 years of retiring rich: $3,997,629
Sacramento
Savings needed for 20 years of retiring rich: $2,021,797
Savings needed for 25 years of retiring rich: $2,527,247
Savings needed for 30 years of retiring rich: $3,035,732
Fresno
Savings needed for 20 years of retiring rich: $1,478,308
Savings needed for 25 years of retiring rich: $1,847,885
Savings needed for 30 years of retiring rich: $2,219,682
For You: Retirement Savings: 4 Expenses Retirees Regret Keeping in Their Budgets, According to Experts
Bakersfield
Savings needed for 20 years of retiring rich: $1,388,112
Savings needed for 25 years of retiring rich: $1,735,140
Savings needed for 30 years of retiring rich: $2,084,252
Methodology: In order to find out exactly how much you need to retire in some of America’s biggest cities, GOBankingRates found the annual cost of expenditures for a retired person in each city by multiplying the 65 year and older expenditures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey by the cost-of-living index for each city from Sperling’s Best. To find how much money a retired person would need to save, we divided each city’s annual expenditures, minus the annual Social Security income as sourced from the Social Security Administration’s Monthly Statistical Snapshot, May 2024, by 0.0333%, 0.04% and 0.05% — assuming 20, 25 and 30 years of retirement respectively. To determine how much one would need to retire rich, GOBankingRates took the 20-, 25-, and 30-year minimums and doubling those amounts. All data is collected and is up to date as of June 17, 2024.
More From GOBankingRates
8 Rare Coins Worth Millions That Are Highly Coveted by Coin Collectors
Housing Market 2024: Home Prices Are Plummeting in 10 Formerly Overpriced Housing Markets
This is The Single Most Overlooked Tool for Becoming Debt-Free
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Much You Need To Retire Rich in 9 Big California Cities