This is according to a new study considering factors like cost of living, health care access, safety, and social opportunities.
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Rachel Chang is a travel and pop culture journalist who contributes to Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Lonely Planet, and more.
Published on March 1, 2022
Independent living is increasingly becoming more popular in the U.S. with 37 million Americans, ages 18 and older, in one-person households in 2021, up from 33 million a decade before, according to Census Bureau statistics. So, the health experts at NiceRx analyzed data to come up with the best states for solo living in America.
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To come up with the top 10 list, the company measured factors including the monthly rent for a one bedroom, the area's safety score, cost of living, number of other single people in the area, average health care costs, number of hospitals, health care facilities, and activity groups (through the number of regularly available Eventbrite happenings).
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Topping the list is Idaho, which earned high rankings for safety and volume of group activities. Not far behind is Nebraska, which also ranks as one of the most affordable states with an average monthly rent of $833. In third place is Louisiana, which has a high percentage of single-person homes, as well as a low cost of living and plenty of activity groups.
Next up is Wisconsin and Indiana before a three-way tie between Alaska, North Carolina, and Tennessee for sixth place, followed by a tie for ninth place between Illinois and New Mexico.
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The study also broke things down in each category, with the lowest rent for singletons found in Kentucky at an average of $763 a month (the most expensive is Hawaii at $1,617); lowest average health insurance cost in New Mexico at $6,088 a year; lowest cost of living in New Mexico; safest state for solo living being Utah; most group activities in Colorado; most hospitals in Alaska; and most health centers in Florida. It all adds up to there currently being the most solo households in New Mexico with 31.3 percent of the state's population living on their own, while the state with the least is Utah with only 19.2 percent of the population in solo households.
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NiceRx also honed in specifically on elderly solo living, weighing other factors, like number of assisted living facilities and amount of pension needed to live comfortably. Utah came out on top for the demographic, followed by Idaho, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, South Dakota, Colorado, and New Jersey — followed by a three-way tie for eighth place between Illinois, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. To learn more about the best states for living alone, check out the full solo living index.
