The 10 Cheapest States To Live In The United States For 2026

The 10 Cheapest States In The United States For 2026

1. Mississippi

Our cheapest state in America is… Mississippi. Like the other cheap states, food and personal necessities are very cheap here — actually the cheapest you’ll find in America. The most affordable place in the cheapest state would be Aberdeen.

Here in the Magnolia State, the cost to rent? or buy is about $795 a month. That’s REALLY low. It also costs far cheaper here for food, child care, health care, and every other care you can name. And, of note, Mississippi has by far the cheapest child care costs of any other state – even $150 a month less than Arkansas! You can be daddy warbucks around here if you bring in anything over 50k.

Now, some people might say – it’s Mississippi. Why would I want to live there? There’s a reason it’s so cheap.

Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Living Wage: $93,750
Housing: $12,645
Child Care: $14,162

2. Kentucky

Our next cheapest place to live isn’t too far away, as we take a spin in Kentucky. I have a feeling we’re going to be in the south a lot for this trip.

Here in Kentucky, housing costs are actually the third lowest in the entire nation behind Arkansas and West Virginia. It’s relatively more expensive for food than other states on this list, and for some reason, child care costs in Kentucky are a little more expensive – at about 523 dollars a month.

Life is slow in Kentucky – so if you want cheap and a whole lotta rolling hills, then this is your place. You can probably get a trailer and get a job down at Ramsey’s. Sounds like a great life to me. Of course, the dating scene down in Kentucky is challenging.

Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 6)
Living Wage: $97,419
Housing: $13,373
Child Care: $16,837

3. Arkansas

It’s time we check out our third cheapest state in which to live, Arkansas, giving the South a clean one-two sweep of the cheapest states to live.

Don’t everyone jump up at once.

Okay, so it’s Arkansas, but what did you expect? You get what you pay for here, which isn’t a lot either way. Like we mentioned with Mississippi, the core necessities in Arkansas are as cheap as you can find in America.. An Arkansawian can make about $48k a year, and spends about only about 708 dollars a month on rent or mortgages. That’s probably half what you spend. And that’s also the lowest housing costs in America.

However, the reason it’s the second cheapest place to live is people earn the second lowest salaries in America, so if you want to move here to movin on up in the world, you’d better make another plan.

Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 2)
Living Wage: $97,736
Housing: $12,846
Child Care: $18,384

4. Tennessee

Welcome to the wonderfully cheap (except Nashville) state of Tennessee. We’re back to some Southern living. Taxes? Really low. Food costs? Really low. Housing costs are slightly higher than most of the other places on this list at about $810 a month, but that’s still really low for most people watching this video, wishing their mortgage payment was 810 dollars.

However, it must be mentioned that Tennessee, overall, perhaps surprisingly, is one of the most dangerous states in the nation. Especially Memphis, which is one of the more dangerous big cities in America. If you move to Tennessee to start a better life and downsize, make sure you know where you’re moving or we might not ever hear from you again.

Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 3)
Living Wage: $98,627
Housing: $16,198
Child Care: $16,255

5. Louisiana

Rank Last Year: 14 (Up 9)
Living Wage: $98,949
Housing: $13,606
Child Care: $17,065

6. Alabama

The Alabama tide rolls into the sixth cheapest state spot for 2026. Relatively high taxes and medical care for the South prevented the state from appearing higher on our list. Here in Alabama, the living wage is about $50,000, or about $25 an hour. And if both people work, than you each only really need minimum wage jobs to live a decent life in the Heart of Dixie.

If it wasn’t for the higher than average taxes here, and above average healthcare costs, Alabama would be in the top 5 for sure.

Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 3)
Living Wage: $99,458
Housing: $13,040
Child Care: $15,463

7. South Dakota

We’re gonna ride the rails all the way up to our next cheapest state, South Dakota. In South Dakota, a family can get by pretty comfortably on about $4,200 a month in income. Housing and food will cost you about $1,300 a month total. Not too bad at all. But the real kicker is there’s no income taxes in South Dakota. This means South Dakota has the lowest taxes in America. Sure beats New York, where people spend about a thousand bucks a month in taxes alone.

Yuck.

Of course, it IS South Dakota. But with all your extra savings here, you can go out and buy up all of the Bierocks and and pheasants and walleye and chislic? You want? What is this stuff? This is what South Dakotans eat?

Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 1)
Living Wage: $100,875
Housing: $13,180
Child Care: $17,318

8. West Virginia

Moving on, we just got word that we’re heading to West Virginia, our eighth cheapest state in America. While coal jobs might not be coming back soon, you might want to consider West Virginia purely for the low cost of living. Some of the most affordable places in the state include Clarksburg and Weirton.

As you might expect, it’s actually really cheap to live in West Virginia. That’s why so many people here live here. But, for some reason, child care costs are in the top 5 in West Virginia. Is that because there’s hardly anyone around to watch the kids? Maybe they just don’t need to.

Rank Last Year: 18 (Up 10)
Living Wage: $101,311
Housing: $11,950
Child Care: $19,336

9. Texas

Texas has surged up the affordability scale, landing in the 10th position as one of the most affordable states, climbing a remarkable nine spots from the previous year. The Lone Star State offers a relatively low cost of living, making it an attractive destination for families and individuals alike.

With a Living Wage for a family of four set at $91,949, Texas manages to keep expenses in check compared to many other states. Housing costs, averaging $14,544 annually, are notably affordable, extending to child care at $15,140 annually.

Another factor contributing to Texas’ affordability is its need for state income tax. The absence of state income tax allows residents to keep more of their earnings, making it an attractive destination for individuals and families looking to maximize their disposable income.

Rank Last Year: 19 (Up 10)
Living Wage: $101,697
Housing: $18,418
Child Care: $19,178

10. Iowa

Rank Last Year: 21 (Up 11)
Living Wage: $102,199
Housing: $13,200
Child Care: $17,135

Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest States In The United States For 2026

When we at HomeSnacks normally measure how affordable a place to live is we check in on whats called a cost of living index. That analyzes the costs of goods in basket of things like housing, milk, utilities, and gas across in each state across the United States.

But for this analysis we had an even better source — MIT’s Living Wage data.

The team at MIT compiles the best set of geographical data on what a family of various sizes can realistically expect to spend to live a decent life each year. Not super comfy, but not in poverty.

In particular they look at the cost of the following items by state:

• Food
• Child Care
• Medical
• Housing
• Transportation
• Other Personal Necessities
• Taxes

They just updated their state level data for 2026.

We took their average required wage in each state for two adults and one child and ranked them from lowest to highest. The lowest state, Mississippi, was crowned the cheapest state to live in America for 2026. You can download the data here.

Summary: The Cheapest States In America To Live For 2026

Okay, so that’s it. Our cheapest states in America. After all the dust settled and the analysis was over, we crowned Mississippi as the cheapest state to live in the United States for 2026.

While it’s good news for Mississippi that a dollar goes further there any other place in the country, the downside might be the reason behind it. People are willing to pay more to live in nicer places — that whole supply and demand thing. Remember, there’s nothing wrong with living a cheap life, and being content with the way things are. If your car runs, you have heat on, and you can go out every now and then, then you have it better than like 70% of the rest of the world.

So even though it might be cheap to live in Mississippi, Mississippi still might be a better place to call home if you can afford it.

If you’re curious, here are the most expensive states you can live in America. If you live in one of these expensive places, and you’re thinking about moving away and starting over – somewhere cheap, and where your ex wife can’t find you, we gave you a good list to start looking into more. Here’s a quick look at the most expensive states in America:

1. Massachusetts
2. Hawaii
3. California

For more reading, check out:

• Worst Places To Live In America
• Best Places To Live In America
• Dangerous Places By State
• Richest Cities In America
• Safest Cities By State

Cheapest States In The United States For 2026