Here's How Long $1 Million in Savings Will Last in Iowa

With both Powerball and Mega Millions offering up winners half a billion dollars this week, I wanted to dig into what a more modest sum of cash can get you here in Iowa. I'm talking about not millions and millions but rather one singular million. Hey, it's more attainable than 500+ million dollars, right?

To figure this out, I went to Go Banking Rates website and let them crunch some of the numbers. Here's what I found: In Iowa, with one million dollars in the bank (and nothing more), you'd make it 21 years, 4 months, 18 days. Which, compared to the other 49 U.S. states, is really, really good. Before we compare ourselves to any other states, let's explore where that one mil is going over 21+ years according to Go Banking Rates:

Annual groceries cost in Iowa: $3,860.67
Annual housing cost in Iowa: $7,345.25
Annual utilities cost in Iowa: $3,710.85
Annual transportation cost in Iowa: $4,579.99
Annual healthcare cost in Iowa: $6,747.58
Total annual expenditures in Iowa: $46,740.34

Again, these are averages so, individual results would certainly very person to person. We score high in transportation costs because gas is usually lower in the Midwest and insurance rates are decent here. We do well on healthcare costs as well, which is important if you have lingering health issues. So could you legit retire? Sure, if you over or around 60-70 years old. Otherwise, it's unlikely. Remember, in this scenario you have just that one million. No pension, social security, etc.

So how'd we stack up to our border neighbors? Here's the states where money would run out sooner than in Iowa:

Minnesota: 19 years, 4 months, 10 days
South Dakota: 19 years, 6 months, 5 days
North Dakota: 20 years, 1 month, 1 day (I know they're not a border state, but we outlast 'em so I threw them in for fun)
Wisconsin: 20 years, 4 months, 18 days
Illinois: 20 years, 8 months, 13 days

And the nrighbor states you'd make in longer on one million - remember, in Iowa you'd last 21 years, 4 months, 18 days.