The salary a single person needs to live comfortably in every U.S. state

[bhikkhu]

8. I live very comfortably in Oregon, for $35k.

I'm retired early now, which was made possible because I made $70k/year for awhile, and saved up enough money to cover several years of living expenses. The problem with the study is that it over-estimates actual living costs, and assumes people can't choose to live in lower cost areas or modify their lifestyles to fit their incomes. In my case I grew up relatively poor, so have always had pretty frugal habits.

I'd add, my daughter moved to the Portland area and supports herself just fine on about $70k. So even in the expensive areas it's not necessarily that difficult.