Retirement Confidence Statistics (2026)

Retirement confidence softened in 2026. In the EBRI/Greenwald Retirement Confidence Survey, the longest-running survey of its kind (36 years), 64% of Americans said they felt confident of having enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement, down from the prior year as rising costs and worries about Social Security weighed on households.

The survey polled 2,544 Americans ages 25 and up in January 2026. EBRI's director of wealth benefits research summed up the mood: Americans are contending with a mix of immediate financial pressures, debt, inflation, housing and health-care costs, and long-term uncertainty about the future of the retirement system.

Retirees consistently feel better about retirement than the workers still saving for it. In 2026, worker confidence in a comfortable retirement fell 6 percentage points to 61%, while retiree confidence fell 5 points to 73% (see the chart and table below). Both groups moved lower together, an unusual synchronized dip.

The erosion shows up in emergency readiness too. Fewer than 3 in 5 workers said they had enough saved to handle an emergency expense, down from 64% in 2025, and among retirees the figure slipped below 7 in 10, down from 74%. Perceptions of savings adequacy were the most-cited driver of how confident people felt.

The 2026 reading reversed a more upbeat 2025, when 67% of workers and 78% of retirees were confident and retiree confidence had actually risen from 74% the year before. Worker confidence is now at its lowest level since 2017, and only about one in five workers (21%) describe themselves as 'very' confident, so most confidence is of the softer 'somewhat' variety.

Behind the headline number, financial well-being weakened across the board. Fewer than 2 in 5 workers and only about half of retirees rated their household finances as at least very good in 2026, and a larger share of workers reported that debt had become a major problem.

The single most durable finding in retirement research is the gap between when workers think they will retire and when retirees actually did. Workers report a median expected retirement age of 65, but retirees report a median actual age of 62, a gap that has persisted for decades (see the table below).

The tails are even more revealing. About 39% of workers expect to retire at 70 or older, or never, but only 10% of retirees actually did. Conversely, just 12% of workers plan to retire before 60, yet 29% of retirees report they left that early. Plans skew late; reality skews early.

A second long-running series, Gallup's retirement polling, tells the same story with even wider numbers. Non-retired Americans on average expect to retire around age 66, while current retirees say they actually retired around 61 to 62, a gap of about five years that has held steady for two decades.

Both figures have drifted up over time. Gallup's average actual retirement age rose from about 57 in the early 1990s to 62 by 2014, its highest on record, while expected ages climbed from 60 in 1995 to 66. Even so, expectation has consistently outrun reality by roughly half a decade.

Why do so many people stop working sooner than intended? In the 2026 survey, 46% of retirees said they retired earlier than planned. The reasons are a mix of good and bad news (see the table below): 36% say they could afford to retire earlier.

But hardship is the bigger driver. Among 2026 early retirees, 41% left because of a hardship such as a health problem or disability and 35% because of changes at their company, such as downsizing or a buyout. Because these shocks are largely out of a worker's control, planning to work until 70 is a fragile retirement strategy.

Planning to keep earning is another expectation that rarely survives contact with reality. Three in four workers (74%) plan to work for pay in retirement, but only 31% of retirees report they actually did, a gap the survey has found year after year.

When retirees do work, the reasons are mostly positive: 91% say they want to stay active and involved and 85% enjoy working. But money matters too. About 75% cite wanting money to buy extras, 56% want to avoid drawing down savings, and 41% say they need the income to make ends meet.

Confidence aside, the actual savings picture is thin for a large slice of workers. Among those who disclose it, 35% report total savings and investments (excluding their home) of less than $25,000, and that includes 22% with under $1,000 (see the chart and table below). At the other end, 35% report $250,000 or more.

Access to a workplace plan is the dividing line. Among workers with no retirement plan, 70% have less than $1,000 saved, versus just 9% of those with an IRA, DC plan, or pension. Confidence follows the same line: 70% of workers with a plan are confident of a comfortable retirement, versus 32% of those without one.

Americans think retirement takes a lot. Northwestern Mutual's 2026 Planning & Progress Study, an industry survey, found people believe they need about $1.46 million to retire comfortably, up more than 15% from $1.26 million in 2025 and matching the 2024 estimate (see the chart and table below).

The reality falls far short. Vanguard's How America Saves reports a median 401(k) balance near $44,115, a fraction of the perceived target. Little wonder that 46% of Americans do not expect to be financially prepared for retirement and 48% think it is likely they will outlive their savings.

The good news is that many workers are doing something. About 65% say they or a spouse have saved any money for retirement and 59% are currently saving, though only 51% have ever tried to calculate how much they will actually need to retire comfortably (see the table below).

Fewer have done the harder planning. Just 53% have estimated the monthly income they will need, 50% have planned for an emergency expense in retirement, and only 46% have calculated retirement health-care costs. And 66% of workers say that preparing for retirement makes them feel stressed.

Much of the confidence gap is structural, not behavioral. About 56 million working Americans, roughly half the workforce, lack access to a workplace payroll-deduction retirement plan, per AARP research. Access falls off sharply at small employers: about 78% of workers at firms with under 10 employees have no workplace way to save.

The pension safety net has also thinned. As of early 2025, only about 14% of private-industry workers had access to a traditional defined-benefit pension, while about 70% had access to a defined-contribution plan like a 401(k), shifting both the saving and the investing risk onto individuals.

Worry about government programs is a growing drag on confidence. In 2026, about 4 in 5 workers and 7 in 10 retirees said they were concerned the government will make significant changes to the retirement system, and only about half of workers and 6 in 10 retirees were confident Social Security and Medicare will keep paying benefits of equal value.

That matters because reliance is near-universal. In 2026, 92% of retirees said Social Security was a source of income (66% called it a major source), and 89% of workers expect it to be a source. Workers also expect far more from their own savings than retirees report: 83% expect income from a workplace plan, against 45% of retirees who actually draw on one.

Three cost pressures dominate the 2026 survey. Debt is a problem for 65% of workers, a major problem for a quarter, and about 3 in 5 workers say it hurts their ability to save. Half of workers carry credit-card debt and nearly 1 in 3 have more than $25,000 in non-mortgage debt.

Housing and health care pile on. Seven in 10 workers and half of retirees are concerned rising housing costs will affect retirement, and nearly 6 in 10 workers say health-care costs are hurting their ability to save. Two in five retirees say their overall expenses have run higher than they expected.

The data points to a few practical moves. First, do the calculation: only 51% of workers have tried to calculate what they need, and that single step is what turns a vague worry into a plan. Second, get inside a plan, since access to a 401(k) or IRA is the clearest divider between people with a nest egg and people with nothing.

Third, do not bank on working until 70; nearly half of retirees stop earlier than planned, often involuntarily. Automating contributions, keeping costs and debt in check, and holding a diversified, low-cost portfolio for the long run are the levers most in your control. A clear, written thesis for how your money is invested beats guessing at a 'magic number.'