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By Amanda Greenwood
Associate News Editor
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Analyses by USA Today and fintech platform and mobile app MoneyLion show there are wide state‑by‑state gaps in the cost of living for families.
USA Today found that households in about half of U.S. states need to earn nearly $30 an hour to cover their basic necessities.
Meanwhile, a 2026 MoneyLion report estimates that a family of four needs anywhere from $25.35 an hour in Mississippi to $69.43 an hour in Hawaii, based on 2024 Consumer Expenditure Survey data and state cost‑of‑living indexes.
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Newsweek has compiled a list of the average living wages across 50 U.S. states.
The Average Living Wage
MoneyLion calculated the minimum hourly income needed for a two-parent, two-child household to pay for essentials, which include items such as rent, groceries, utilities, healthcare, and transportation across 50 states.
To do this, it used the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2024 Consumer Expenditure Survey and the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center’s 2025 Q3 cost-of-living indexes, then divided the total amount of money needed for necessities each year by 2,080 (which is the average number of hours someone will work in a year) to determine the hourly living wage.
The study found that the highest hourly living wages were $69.43 in Hawaii, $54.25 in Massachusetts, and $46.22 in California, reflecting elevated housing, food, and healthcare costs in those states.
The lowest hourly living wages were $25.35 in Mississippi and $25.65 in Oklahoma (the only two states in the $25 range), followed by Tennessee at $26.11 and West Virginia at $26.35.
The Average Living Wage by State for a Family of Four
The following are MoneyLion’s minimum hourly living wages for a two-parent, two-child household working 2,080 hours annually, listed alphabetically by state.
- Alabama — $26.39 per hour
- Alaska — $40.19 per hour
- Arizona — $33.75 per hour
- Arkansas — $26.45 per hour
- California — $46.22 per hour
- Colorado — $32.34 per hour
- Connecticut — $37.24 per hour
- Delaware — $32.54 per hour
- Florida — $29.70 per hour
- Georgia — $27.96 per hour
- Hawaii — $69.43 per hour
- Idaho — $30.88 per hour
- Illinois — $30.43 per hour
- Indiana — $28.58 per hour
- Iowa — $27.16 per hour
- Kansas — $26.79 per hour
- Kentucky — $27.27 per hour
- Louisiana — $27.77 per hour
- Maine — $38.21 per hour
- Maryland — $41.00 per hour
- Massachusetts — $54.25 per hour
- Michigan — $29.66 per hour
- Minnesota — $28.58 per hour
- Mississippi — $25.35 per hour
- Missouri — $26.31 per hour
- Montana — $35.28 per hour
- Nebraska — $27.38 per hour
- Nevada — $31.17 per hour
- New Hampshire — $32.95 per hour
- New Jersey — $37.31 per hour
- New Mexico — $27.61 per hour
- New York — $43.63 per hour
- North Carolina — $29.91 per hour
- North Dakota — $26.57 per hour
- Ohio — $28.74 per hour
- Oklahoma — $25.65 per hour
- Oregon — $39.33 per hour
- Pennsylvania — $30.42 per hour
- Rhode Island — $35.38 per hour
- South Carolina — $28.24 per hour
- South Dakota — $27.82 per hour
- Tennessee — $26.11 per hour
- Texas — $26.65 per hour
- Utah — $30.95 per hour
- Vermont — $36.41 per hour
- Virginia — $31.74 per hour
- Washington — $36.16 per hour
- West Virginia — $26.35 per hour
- Wisconsin — $30.60 per hour
- Wyoming — $28.30 per hour
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