Earn less than $200K? Your family can afford to live comfortably in only 7 states, report finds

(NEXSTAR) – Earning enough to feel comfortable can mean different things and require a very different income, especially based on where you live. A recent report shows that, in some cases, that means earning more than a quarter of a million dollars.

Personal finance site SmartAsset reviewed data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator and applied it to a common budgeting method known as the 50/30/20 rule — 50% of your budget should cover your needs, 30% goes toward “wants,” and 20% for debt, saving, or investing — to find the pre-tax salary necessary for Americans to “live comfortably.”

A portion of the analysis was focused on the income a family of four, comprised of two working adults and two children, would need to live comfortably throughout the U.S.

Nowhere was it more expensive than M