For too many Americans, when it comes to retirement savings, the Magic-8 Ball appears to be stuck on "Outlook Not So Good." Between rising costs of living and lingering inflation, personal savings has taken a steep decline, according to a recent SecureSave survey. The majority of respondents (61%) say they had either stopped contributing to retirement savings or never started saving in the first place. A new study from DollarGeek compounds the bad news: No state in the nation is currently on track with hitting recommended retirement savings. Using data from the Federal Reserve System's Survey of Consumer Finances, the personal finance adviser reveals that the average state is over two-fifths (44%) from their retirement savings benchmarks. Recommended retirement sums vary state to state, based on annual cost of health care, groceries, housing, utilities, and transportation. Generally speaking, the mean national sum required to retire is $760,476, after Social Security income. The most recent figures from the FRS show the average American only has $427,918 in savings.

Related: Most workers expect to fall short of $1 million retirement savings goal

Some states are in more dire straits than others. For example, the recommended savings for retiring in Hawaii is $1.8 million, but the average savings balance tops out at $366,776 per person. That's about 20% of the goal, with $1,446,992 to go. New York isn't far behind Hawaii when it comes to retirement shortfalls (70%), with California, the District of Columbia, and Massachusetts making up the top five states that are the farthest away from retirement savings targets. Courtesy of DollarGeek. DollarGeek recommends prioritizing such savings because returns are presently the highest they've been in 15 years, with top-yielding online account rates returning just over 5% in interest. For the states that are the closest to their retirement savings goals, see our slideshow above.

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Richard Binder

Richard Binder, based in New York, is part of the social media team at ALM. He is also a 2014 recipient of the ASPBE Award for Excellence in the Humorous/Fun Department.

Retirement
Defined Contribution
Retirement Trends