The 15 U.S. states with the highest cost of living for single people, excluding California, New York, and Hawaii.

According to a recent SmartAsset analysis, you'll need to earn nearly $60,000 annually to live alone in Massachusetts, the most expensive state in the U.S. when it comes to basic costs.

The MIT Living Wage calculator estimates the amount a single-person household needs to cover expenses such as housing, transportation, health care, taxes, and other common costs.

The annual cost for a single-person household varies widely by state, with the biggest spread being $58,009 in Massachusetts and $39,386 in West Virginia.

To cover basic expenses, a person in Massachusetts would need an hourly wage of approximately $28 based on a 40-hour work week, while in West Virginia, an hourly wage of about $19 would be sufficient.

The 15 U.S. states with the highest cost of living, according to the amount required for a single person to cover basic expenses, are listed here.

1. Massachusetts: $58,009
2. Hawaii: $56,841
3. California: $56,825
4. New York: $55,878
5. Washington: $53,242
6. Colorado: $51,644
7. New Jersey: $51,504
8. Maryland: $51,460
9. Oregon: $50,553
10. Rhode Island: $50,418
11. Connecticut: $50,194
12. Virginia: $49,973
13. New Hampshire: $49,045
14. Arizona: $48,677
15. Georgia: $48,448

Nearly half of most people's budgets goes towards housing, with median costs in the 15 most expensive states being almost double those in the 15 least expensive states at $17,000.

Not surprisingly, housing costs are higher in states with large cities, such as California and New York, due to the high demand for homes resulting from job opportunities in these cities.

The cost of living varies between states, with food and tax costs differing by up to $2,000 and $1,500, respectively.

The rewritten sentence is: "These expense estimates only cover the essentials, so they exclude optional spending like entertainment or investment contributions."

Despite California's $20 per hour minimum wage for fast food workers, it still doesn't cover the $27.32 needed for a single full-time worker's basic expenses in that state, according to MIT's data.

The Living Wage calculator at MIT uses information from multiple federal agencies, adjusted for inflation until December 2023.

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