Retirement Savings Statistics (2026)

The Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances puts the average retirement-account balance at $451,100 among families that have one, but the median at $106,000. Both rose since 2022 (the median 11% and the mean 23%, after inflation), but the gap means a minority of high savers pull the average up, so the median far better describes a typical household.

The bigger picture is how many people have nothing. Only 54.9% of families held a retirement account in 2025, so about 45% had none, and about 41% of households headed by someone aged 55 to 64 have no retirement-account savings at all, right as they approach retirement.

Balances build through the working years, from an average of about $48,400 for families under 35 to $670,200 at ages 55 to 64. In the 2025 survey, averages kept rising into retirement, to $767,600 at 65 to 74 and $798,700 at 75 and older, where in 2022 they had peaked at 65 to 74 (see the table below).

As with the headline numbers, these are averages and overstate the typical household. The median balance runs from $21,000 for holders under 35 to $239,000 at 55 to 64 and $257,000 at 65 and older.

In workplace plans, Vanguard's How America Saves 2026 report puts the average account balance at $167,970 and the median at just $44,115 at year-end 2025, the same skew again.

Saving behavior is strong: the average total contribution rate (employee plus employer) held at an estimated 12.1% in 2025, plan-weighted participation reached 86%, 77% of plans let workers join immediately, 69% of participants sit in a professionally managed allocation, and 45% increased their deferral rate.

Americans believe they will need $1.46 million to retire comfortably in 2026, up more than 15% from $1.26 million in 2025 and back to the 2024 level (it was $1.05 million in 2021).

Northwestern Mutual recommends replacing about 80% of pre-retirement income. The number varies by generation, and older savers who start late have to save far more each month to reach it.

Time is the biggest lever. To reach $1.26 million (the 2025 target) by age 65 at a 7% return, a saver starting at 20 needs about $330 a month; starting at 30, $695; at 40, $1,547; and at 50, $3,958 (see the table below).

That roughly quadrupling of the required monthly amount between starting at 20 versus 40 is why the median saver, who began at 31, so often falls short.

Among Americans who have any retirement savings, 23% have one year or less of their income set aside, and only about a fifth (20%) have eight times their income or more.

Generation X is closest to retirement and still short: 44% of Gen X savers have three times their annual income or less saved, though 49% now have at least four times their income, up from 41% a year earlier.

Only 54% of non-retirees think they will be financially prepared for retirement, meaning 46% expect not to be. Gen X is the most pessimistic at 49% yes, and Gen Z the most optimistic at 58%, down from 63% in 2025.

That anxiety shows up in behavior: in the 2025 study, six in ten Gen Z and millennial savers said they focus too much on growing wealth and not enough on protecting it.

Nearly half of Americans, 48%, think it is somewhat or very likely they will outlive their savings, and only 25% say it is very unlikely.

Yet 36% have taken no steps to address it. The worry peaks among millennials (55%) and Gen X (50%), the generations most likely to fund a long retirement without a pension.

For 2026 the IRS raised the 401(k) limit to $24,500 and the IRA limit to $7,500. Savers aged 50+ can add $8,000 to a 401(k), and those 60 to 63 can add $11,250 through the new super catch-up (see the table below).

A new rule requires higher earners, with prior-year wages above $150,000, to make their catch-up contributions on a Roth basis.

Eligibility phases out at higher incomes. For 2026, Roth IRA contributions phase out between $153,000 and $168,000 for single filers and $242,000 to $252,000 for married couples filing jointly.

The deduction for a traditional IRA (when covered by a workplace plan) phases out between $81,000 and $91,000 for singles, and the Saver's Credit is available up to $80,500 for married couples.

Plans and reality diverge. Workers expect to retire at a median age of about 66, with 41% expecting to work to 66 or later, but the actual average retirement age is about 61.

Expectations have drifted later over time: the average expected age rose from 60 in 1995 to 66, and the share planning to retire before 60 fell from 27% to 12%, even as actual retirement ages barely moved.

The gap between plans and reality is often not a choice. In EBRI's 2026 survey, 46% of retirees left the workforce earlier than planned; of those, 41% cited a hardship such as a health problem or disability and 35% changes at their company, while 36% said they could afford to.

It is a reminder that a retirement date is a hope, not a guarantee, which is part of why early savings matter so much.

Confidence holds up better than balances would suggest, though it slipped in 2026. EBRI's Retirement Confidence Survey found 61% of workers and 73% of retirees feel at least somewhat confident about a comfortable retirement, down from 67% and 78% in 2025; worker confidence is at its lowest since 2017.

But it is fragile confidence: most Americans still report financial anxiety about retirement, and majorities worry about inflation and the future of Social Security.

Asked to name their top retirement questions in 2026, Americans rank them: how much money they will need (40%), whether Social Security will be there (33%), outliving their savings (28%), long-term care (27%), inflation (24%), healthcare costs (24%), and taxes (23%).

The Social Security worry is generational: in the 2025 study, 47% of Gen X listed it among their top three concerns, versus 20% of boomers.

Social Security is the backbone of US retirement. The average monthly benefit for a retired worker was $2,088.79 in September 2026, across 55.1 million retired workers. Benefits rose 2.8% for 2026, and the SSA has announced a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment for 2027.

But it was never designed to stand alone: benefits replace only about 40% of pre-retirement income for a typical worker, well below the 70% to 80% most planners target.

For many, Social Security is not one leg of a stool but the whole stool. About 40% of older Americans rely on it for all of their income, 40% for at least half, and 14% for 90% or more; only 7% receive income from all three traditional sources.

Its anti-poverty role is enormous: Social Security kept 7.5 million older households out of poverty in a single year, and without it the number of poor older households would rise more than 200%, to 11 million.

Health care is one of the largest and most underestimated retirement expenses. Fidelity estimates a 65-year-old retiring in 2026 will spend about $185,500 on health care and medical expenses, excluding long-term care (its 2025 estimate put a couple at roughly $345,000).

The figure has more than doubled since Fidelity's first $80,000 estimate in 2002 and rose 7.5% in the latest year alone. Even so, Fidelity finds 54% of pre-retirees incorrectly believe Medicare will cover all of their health expenses.

Health savings accounts are the most tax-advantaged way to save for those costs, yet they are badly underused. Only 23% of Americans contribute to an HSA for retirement, just 15% of those aged 55 to 64 have one, and only about 3 in 10 holders invest their balance rather than leaving it in cash.

The core problem is awareness: more than half of Americans (52%) do not realize an HSA can serve as a retirement vehicle at all.

Retirement now routinely lasts two to three decades: a 65-year-old can expect to live roughly another 18 to 20 years, and in Northwestern Mutual's 2025 study 32% of Americans expected their retirement to last 10-plus years longer than their parents'.

Partly as a result, 41% of Americans plan to work during retirement in 2026, rising to 50% of Gen X and millennials. The most-cited reasons are feeling useful (56%), extra income for a preferred lifestyle (48%), and needing the income to afford retirement (47%).

Women retire with less. Men are more likely than women to have a retirement account (about 48% versus 43%), contribute less each year, and carry lower balances even at equal salary and tenure.

Unmarried women fare worst, with lower confidence and larger projected shortfalls, driven in part by the wage gap and time out of the workforce for caregiving.

The gaps by race are stark and compound over a lifetime. Median household net worth is $285,000 for White families versus $44,900 for Black families, a more than 6-to-1 gap (see the table below).

The gap starts upstream: Black workers have less access to workplace plans (47% versus 58%), lower enrollment (53.6% versus 67.3%), a fraction of the emergency savings ($2,100 versus $12,000), and are far less likely to receive an inheritance (8% versus 28%).

Retirement preparedness tracks income closely. Among households aged 55 to 64, the share with any retirement savings ranges from about 9% in the lowest income quintile to 68% in the middle and 94% at the top.

The result is a system where those who can most afford to save do, and by many estimates roughly half of US households are at risk of not maintaining their standard of living in retirement.