How much money can you put away from your paycheck? That may depend on which state you live in.

It turns out some states are better than others when it comes to how much an employee can pocket after expenses are paid. Two of the biggest factors that cause issues—median income and cost of living—can determine just how much you bring home and how much you have to spend on housing, groceries, gas, and more.

A study by the Common Sense Institute (via Visual Capitalist) looked into just how much you would bring in and spend away by state to determine which ones give you the best chance to save and which ones are going to make you spend the most. So are you living in a saving state or a state of surrendering your paycheck to everyday costs?

Where to Save by State

If you live in Iowa, you’re in a good state of mind when it comes to saving money.

Iowa topped the Common Sense Institute’s list for 2025 as the state where Americans are keeping most of their paycheck. Iowans still hold onto 34.7% of their income after expenses and taxes, due in part to relatively low costs for things like groceries, gas, and housing. The state’s affordable costs for child care also help to make it affordable.

The Dakotas came in second and third place on the list. South Dakotans save around 34.6% of their paychecks after expenses and taxes while 33.5% of paychecks in North Dakota are able to be saved after taxes. Housing and child care costs were in the top 10 most affordable costs in the country for South Dakota. In North Dakota, it was top 10 rankings in groceries, health insurance, and car insurance that lifted it to third place.

Where You’ll Spend

Hawaii topped the list of least affordable states when it comes to saving after expenses and taxes. Just 9% of Hawaiians’ income is saved on average after expenses, led by housing and gas. The state ranked in the lowest possible spot for those two factors.

California came in second with 10.9% saved, mainly due to its expensive gas, child care, and housing costs. For gas, the state was the second-most expensive to fill up your tank behind Hawaii.

Massachusetts came in third with residents able to save an average of 16% being saved after taxes. A big factor for that may be child care, which is the second-most expensive care in the country.

Expensive bills may not be surprising for residents of Hawaii, Massachusetts, and California as the three states top the rankings for overall cost of living in the United States, according to the World Population Review.

Where Things Are Changing

For residents of some states, where the state is ranked may not be as important as how much the state has improved.

Kansas residents may be happy to know that while their state is ranked fourth, it moved up 14 spots from the Common Sense Institute’s 2019 ranking. The state had a 5% reduction in affordability based on gross income.

New Mexico came in second with a 4.7% reduction in affordable, giving it a 22-place boost to 15th spot, followed by Utah’s 4.1% reduction. That ranks the mountain state 10 spots higher than 2019, putting it at 36 on the list of states that save.

On the other side, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and California saw the biggest jumps on increasing expenses and decreasing income. Rhode Island saw a 8.4% jump in costs from gross income. That change saw the state sink from ranking 19 down to 44, which amounted to a 25-spot change in affordability.

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