Despite a slight decline from a year ago, a single adult in Tennessee still needs to earn about $90,000 annually to live comfortably, according to a new SmartAsset analysis.
The study examined living wages across all 50 states and applied the popular 50/30/20 budgeting rule, which allocates 50% of income to necessities such as housing and utilities, 30% to discretionary spending and 20% to savings and retirement.
Tennessee was one of six states where the income needed for a single adult to live comfortably fell between 2025 and 2026, joining Maryland, Louisiana, North Carolina, Mississippi and Texas.
Despite the decrease, the cost of living comfortably remains substantial.
Nationwide, a single adult now needs at least $80,000 a year in every state,
while nearly half of states require more than $100,000 annually. For families of four, the required income can reach as high as $329,000.
Tennessee ranked No. 37 among states for the income needed to live comfortably, making it one of the more affordable states in the nation. Here's what else to know.
How much income single Tennesseans need to live comfortably in 2026
A single adult in Tennessee needs to earn about $89,898 a year to live comfortably, according to SmartAsset's analysis.
That's a 1.7% decrease from 2025, making Tennessee one of just a handful of states where the income needed to maintain a comfortable lifestyle fell year over year.
For a family of four, the required annual income rises to $197,267.
The income needed to live comfortably in Tennessee is nearly $40,000 lower than the amount required in Hawaii, which tops the list at $129,002 for a single adult, followed by Massachusetts ($127,213), California ($126,797), New York ($124,342) and New Jersey ($113,776), all of which require six-figure salaries.
At the other end of the ranking are some of the country's least expensive states, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Louisiana, Kentucky, Arkansas and West Virginia, where a single adult can live comfortably on an income in the low-to-mid $80,000 range.
Methodology
To determine the necessary wage needed to live in every state, SmartAsset used data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator, using cost-of-living estimates for both a single adult with no children and a family of four with two working adults and two children.
The MIT data, which was updated in February 2026, reflects the latest available living-cost estimates. Researchers also used 2025 figures to measure year-over-year changes.
To understand how much income is needed to live comfortably, SmartAsset applied the 50/30/20 budgeting rule to all 50 states. Under that guide, the living wage represents 50% of a household's budget for necessities, with the remaining income allocated to discretionary spending and savings.
Are you single and living in Middle Tennessee? What's been your experience with affordability in Middle Tennessee? Email Diana Leyva at dleyva@gannett.com.
Diana Leyva covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact her at Dleyva@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: A single person needs nearly $90K to live comfortably in Tennessee, study says
