The National Institute on Retirement Security released on Thursday its State Financial Security Scorecards, which summarize each state’s retirement outlook. Diane Oakley, executive director for NIRS, led a webinar on Thursday discussing the results.
“When we look at our primary findings across all states, one thing that becomes clear is that there’s room for improvement in all [states] in one or more–and in many states all–measures of financial security for future retirees,” Oakley said.
The states’ scores are based on eight economic variables in three categories: retirement savings, current retiree costs, and labor market conditions for older workers, with 10 representing best conditions and 1 representing weakest conditions.
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Retirement income takes into account participation rates in private retirement plans; the average defined contribution account balance; and the marginal tax rate on pension income.
Retiree costs include Medicare out-of-pocket costs; Medicaid generosity, which was measured by the average spending by the state per elder beneficiary; and the housing cost burden.
The labor market score is based on the unemployment rate for people 55 and older, and the median hourly earnings rate for people in the same age group.