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Whether you’re buying your first guitar or your tenth, purchasing a new guitar is one of the most exciting things in the world, but the excitement of getting a new instrument can quickly be overshadowed by how much the price might set you back.
With the rising cost of living across the U.S., guitars have seen their prices go up as well, with the average cost of a new electric guitar reaching $625 in recent years. However, depending on where you live, the price of a guitar can feel more or less overwhelming when you factor in local wages and the overall cost of living in your state.
So where in the U.S. is it most affordable to buy a new guitar?
With the average cost of an electric guitar of $625 in mind, we gathered average salary and cost of living data in each state in order to find how many hours of work it takes to afford a new guitar in every U.S. state.
Key Findings:
- On average, a guitar player in America must work 19.84 hours to save enough to buy a $625 guitar.
- Due to the state’s high cost of living, Hawaii is the least affordable state, where the average Hawaiian guitarist would need to work 36.26 hours to buy a new guitar.
- Wyoming‘s low cost of living and high average salary make it the most affordable state to buy a new guitar—you’d need to work just 15.11 hours to afford one.
Guitars Are Least Affordable in Hawaii, and Most Affordable in Wyoming
In Hawaii, someone would need to work 36.26 hours to save up enough money to purchase the average new electric guitar – making Hawaii the least affordable state for guitars.
In the continental U.S., Arizona is the least affordable state to buy a new guitar. Arizona’s inflated cost of living relative to its average income, a guitar player in AZ would need to work over 26 hours to save enough for a new guitar. Meanwhile, in Wyoming, the high average wage coupled with the state’s low cost of living drastically reduce the time needed to work to afford a new guitar down to just 15.11 hours.
The Top 10 Least Affordable States to Buy a New Guitar
As mentioned above, Hawaii is the least affordable state to buy a new guitar when taking the local average salary and the state’s cost of living into account, requiring 36.26 hours of work to make the purchase. Other states in the top ten, while not as extreme, are still notably challenging, with Arizona (23.45 hours), California (23.15 hours), Mississippi (22.91 hours), and Maine (22.66 hours) rounding out the top five least affordable places to buy a new guitar.
| RANK | STATE | HOURS OF WORK IT TAKES TO PURCHASE A NEW GUITAR |
| 1 | Hawaii | 36.26 |
| 2 | Arizona | 23.45 |
| 3 | California | 23.15 |
| 4 | Mississippi | 22.91 |
| 5 | Maine | 22.66 |
| 6 | Alaska | 22.40 |
| 7 | Idaho | 22.33 |
| 8 | Utah | 22.18 |
| 9 | Vermont | 22.16 |
| 10 | New Mexico | 21.82 |
The Top 10 Most Affordable States to Buy a New Guitar
Wyoming ranks as the most affordable state to buy a new guitar, requiring just 15.11 hours of work to make a purchase, thanks to its combination of high wages and relatively low cost of living. Other states in the top ten offer similar affordability, with Connecticut (16.14 hours), South Dakota (16.56), and North Dakota (16.62) also ranking among the most budget-friendly locations.
| RANK | STATE | HOURS OF WORK IT TAKES TO PURCHASE A NEW GUITAR |
| 1 | Wyoming | 15.11 |
| 2 | Connecticut | 16.14 |
| 3 | South Dakota | 16.56 |
| 4 | North Dakota | 16.62 |
| 5 | Colorado | 16.67 |
| 6 | Nebraska | 16.91 |
| 7 | Kansas | 17.05 |
| 8 | Maryland | 17.05 |
| 9 | Minnesota | 17.07 |
| 10 | Illinois | 17.18 |
Making The Case For Cheap Guitars
I’ve always been a fan of finding cheap guitars that sound good. In fact, I’ve been playing a Sonic Blue G&L Fallout Tribute that I purchased used as my main guitar for the better part of 10 years. That guitar has survived going on several tours, played countless shows, and has been used to record all of the demos on the Pedal Haven YouTube channel and it still plays like a dream today. The point is, there are a ton of really awesome cheap guitars out there today from the ever-expanding Fender Squier lineup to the wide range of guitars from Epiphone and more.
Take a trip to your local guitar shop and try something out!
Methodology
We gathered average salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and cost of living figures from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center in order to find each state’s average hourly wage relative to its cost of living. Then we took the average price of an electric guitar ($625) from Statista. Using these figures, we were able to calculate how many hours the average resident in each state would need to work in order to purchase a new guitar.