{"id":15030,"date":"2024-11-11T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T15:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.netcredit.com\/blog\/?p=15030"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:03:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T20:03:57","slug":"women-and-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.netcredit.com\/blog\/women-and-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much More Do Women Need to Save for a Comfortable Retirement?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around 4.1 million<\/a> Americans will retire this year. Many will rightly anticipate a long and rewarding new chapter in their life \u2014 whether that means rest, study, adventure or family time. However, a financially comfortable retirement is closer to hand for some than for others.<\/p>\n

Around two-thirds of America\u2019s retirees<\/a> fund these retirement years through savings or pensions, while 92% draw on Social Security to make ends meet. But among those yet to retire, 25% of them lack any retirement savings at all. More than one in ten<\/a> over-65s lives in poverty. And single women<\/a> and women of color<\/a> are disproportionately represented among this number.<\/p>\n

Over their lifetime, women face added challenges to their retirement saving strategy. Women earn just 84%<\/a> of what men earn on average and live six years longer<\/a>. They are statistically more likely to take time out of work to raise children or care for aging parents. When divorcing after 50<\/a>, women can also expect a 45% decline in their standard of living, compared to 21% for men. And, once retired, women face the additional costs of living longer, such as increased healthcare fees and assisted living.<\/p>\n

However, the cost of living<\/a>, the gender wage gap and life expectancy all vary from state to state. Following our report on the cost for an American to comfortably retire around the world<\/a>, we decided to uncover where across the U.S. women need to save the most for a comfortable retirement when compared to their male counterparts.<\/p>\n

How We Conducted This Study<\/h2>\n

First, we used the average expectancy by gender in every state to estimate the average length of retirement locally. Next, we used MIT’s Living Wage Calculator to find the cost of living in each state, boosting this figure by 20% for a \u201ccomfortable\u201d retirement. Using these figures, we calculated the retirement savings each gender needs in every state. Finally, we used census data to determine the average earnings by gender in every state and calculated how much longer women in each location need to work to reach their ideal retirement savings, assuming they spend nothing in those extra years of work.<\/p>\n

Key Findings<\/h2>\n