---
title: 'Best and Worst States for Savings Account Balances... Did This Surprise You?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=JVfYgIG-Bow'
video_id: 'JVfYgIG-Bow'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 70
---

# Best and Worst States for Savings Account Balances... Did This Surprise You?

> Source: [Best and Worst States for Savings Account Balances... Did This Surprise You?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=JVfYgIG-Bow)

## Summary

This video analyzes the median savings account balances across different U.S. states, highlighting the best and worst states for emergency funds. It emphasizes the importance of having a sufficient savings buffer and notes that while some states have high medians, others are significantly lower, making it harder for residents to cover unexpected expenses.

### Key Points

- **Types of Accounts Included** [00:02] — The analysis includes checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market funds.
- **Risk of Low Savings** [00:15] — Having only $2,500 or $5,500 in savings can be problematic during emergencies, potentially leading to debt.
- **Median as a Benchmark** [00:29] — Medians mean half of households are above the number, so in states with higher medians, savings go further.
- **Top 10 States** [00:42] — Hawaii tops the list with a median of $37,000, nearly 15 times Mississippi's median. Most top states range between $15K and $22K.
- **Reasonable Savings Goal** [00:54] — The $15K-$22K range is considered reasonable and achievable with consistent savings, though Hawaii's high cost of living makes it challenging.

### Conclusion

The video underscores the importance of building an emergency fund, with a realistic target of $15,000-$22,000 for most states. It also hints at a future video on how to save more effectively.

## Transcript

includes checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market funds. And you can see that the bottom of this list is actually kind of scary because if you have only, let's say, $2,500 or $5,500 in your savings account and you run into
an emergency, that can be kind of bad because you might have to put it on a broke. Now, the silver lining here is that these are medians, so half the households are going to be above this number and in these states, your money's
if you're trying to build emergency fund, at least your money is going to go further. Here are the top 10 states. You can see that Hawaii has $37,000 as a median, which is almost 15 times Mississippi from our previous slide.
But, for most part for the most part, most of these states are between 15K and 22K. Now, 15 to 22K, I think is really reasonable. I think you can achieve that with consistent savings. But, what's really interesting to me is that Hawaii
everything is just so expensive in that darn state. In a future video, I plan to in your savings account. So, if you'd like to see that video, make sure to know what your thoughts are on this video. Was this more or less than you
video. Was this more or less than you thought?