Vermont Business Magazine In a recent GOBankingRates.com national survey, 69 percent of respondents said they have less than $1,000 in savings. Even worse, 34 percent said they haveno savings at all. Such abysmal savings rates suggest many Americans, if not most, live paycheck to paycheck. Hawaii is the state where Americans are most likely to live paycheck to paycheck and Vermont was number eight, whereas residents of Mississippi are least likely, according to the latest GOBankingRates study.
While a majority of the 10 states where Americans are most strapped for cash are the same states featured in last year’s study, the 2017 study found many new states rank as "the best for stretching your paycheck," including Michigan, Oklahoma and Mississippi.
According to the US Census, these states are also among the poorest in the nation, with Mississippi having the lowest median household income and many of the others in the top ten in GOBankingRates.com survey being among the top ten poorest. This suggests that people with more money live in more expensive places to live and spend more of what they have.
The rankings for the "paycheck" study also closely track the political "Red" (Republican) and "Blue" (Democratic) divide, with only Alaska bucking the trend as a Red state that also lives paycheck to paycheck.
GOBankingRates.com
US Census Bureau 2016 (2015 data)
GOBankingRates.com evaluated and ranked states according to the percentage of the median paycheck that was left over after subtracting the following:
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Housing costs
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Food expenditures
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Transportation expenses
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Utilities
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Healthcare
The 10 states where Americans are most likely to live paycheck to paycheck (with median income rank):
1. Hawaii (12)
2. California (13)
3. New York (23)
4. Massachusetts (8)
5. Alaska (2)
6. Maryland (3)
7. Connecticut (4)
8. Vermont (21)
9. New Jersey (7)
10. Oregon (17)
The 10 states where Americans are least likely to live paycheck to paycheck:
1. Mississippi (51)
2. Arkansas (49)
3. Oklahoma (43)
4. Tennessee (42)
5. Indiana (35)
6. Alabama (47)
7. Kansas (30)
8. Missouri (22)
9. Kentucky (50)
10. Michigan (31)
New Hampshire has the highest median household income at $75,675. Vermont is $59,494. The US average is $56,516. Mississippi is $40,037. The Census includes the District of Columbia (5).
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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16, 2016 –GOBankingRates.com