Key Findings
- Only 61% of workers feel confident about retirement, yet median savings among all working households remains below $5,000, according to the 2026 EBRI RCS and Federal Reserve data.
- 73% of retirees report retirement confidence, but nearly half retired earlier than planned, often due to health or job loss, exposing a fragile sense of security.
- 65% of workers say debt is interfering with their ability to save, credit card balances are the top culprit, and 3 in 5 admit it’s hurting their retirement preparation.
- Roughly 80% of workers worry that future Social Security benefits will not match their expectations, per EBRI, adding a layer of uncertainty that even retirees feel deeply.
- Only 42% of workers have tried to calculate how much they’ll need for healthcare in retirement, even as 2 in 5 retirees say actual healthcare costs were higher than expected.
When my cousin turned 62, she sat cross-legged on her living room floor and opened her 401(k) statement, $19,000, a mortgage still in the background, and a credit card balance that had quietly crept past $6,000. “I’m not worried,” she told me, but her hands shook a little as she poured coffee. Retirement confidence statistics from the 2026 EBRI survey capture that exact tension: a majority of Americans say they’re on track, yet the financial underpinnings look alarmingly thin. This paradox, feeling ready while being wildly unprepared, is the story behind the numbers.
The investing and policy worlds are now wrestling with a tough question: how can 61% of workers claim confidence when median retirement account balances barely clear a few months of living expenses? The answer matters now because rising healthcare costs, mounting personal debt, and a wobbly Social Security outlook are converging just as the youngest boomers glide into their retirement years. Anyone approaching 60 will feel these pressures soon, and anyone younger is watching a system where confidence and reality have all but decoupled.
We dug into the 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey, alongside other authoritative data, to trace where the numbers flatter, where they flinch, and what it all means for your own planning. If there’s one thing the data teaches, it’s that confidence without a concrete plan is just a wish.
Methodology
This analysis is built primarily on the 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Research, a nationally representative survey of over 2,500 workers and 1,200 retirees fielded in January 2025. We supplement these retirement confidence statistics with household financial data from the Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances and the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS). The EBRI RCS captures attitudes, expectations, and self-reported savings; the Federal Reserve and NIRS data ground our discussion of actual asset levels and the prevalence of zero-savings households. Because confidence is self-reported, it may overstate preparedness, the gap between feeling ready and being ready is a deliberate theme throughout.
Retirement Confidence Statistics for 2026: The Numbers at a Glance
The headline retirement confidence statistics from the 2026 EBRI survey show 64% of all Americans feeling confident about having a financially comfortable retirement, a drop from 68% the prior year. Among workers, confidence slid to 61%, while retirees held at 73%. Those worker numbers are near a decade low and reflect a sharper erosion of optimism than the top line suggests.
What looks like modest stability masks a far less comfortable understory: only 18% of workers are “very confident,” meaning they believe in their plan without reservation. The rest are hedging, and many are doing so without the safety net of actual savings. Digging deeper, the survey reveals that confidence among Black and Hispanic workers lags by double digits, and the gender gap hasn’t yet closed: women workers report confidence levels roughly 8 points below men, a disparity that has held stubbornly across multiple survey cycles.
| Confidence Level | Workers | Retirees |
|---|---|---|
| Very confident | 18% | 31% |
| Somewhat confident | 43% | 42% |
| Not too / Not at all confident | 39% | 27% |
The “very confident” slice is the number to watch, it’s the group that typically has a written plan, has run the numbers, and is not just hoping. The wide gap between workers and retirees in that category shows that many people only get serious about financial preparation once they’ve already left the workforce, often scrambling after an unplanned exit.
Only 61% of workers are confident, a level not seen since the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, and just 1 in 5 say they’re “very confident.”
Workers vs. Retirees: Where Confidence Diverges Most
The 12-point gap between worker (61%) and retiree (73%) confidence tells a deeper story about how financial strain shifts after the paycheck stops. Workers are drowning in day-to-day debt: 65% report that debt is a household problem, and among that group, credit card balances are the primary drain. Retirees, on the other hand, have typically paid down large liabilities, the home is often closer to being owned free and clear, but they then face a different monster: healthcare cost surprises and the slow realization that Social Security checks don’t stretch as far as they’d imagined.
“Feeling ready is very different than actually being ready,” says Caroline Feeney, Global head of retirement and insurance at Prudential. That chasm shows up in a simple statistic: only 1 in 3 workers has an emergency fund that would cover three months of expenses, while 2 in 3 retirees do. However, retirees’ emergency cushion is often fragile, a single large medical bill can puncture it, and nearly 40% of retirees report that their actual healthcare costs in retirement were higher than they anticipated.
| Key Indicator | Workers | Retirees |
|---|---|---|
| Confidence they’ll have enough | 61% | 73% |
| Have emergency savings of 3+ months | 34% | 67% |
| Says debt is a problem | 65% | 39% |
| Has calculated healthcare retirement needs | 42% | 38% |
The retiree advantage in emergency savings evaporates quickly under sustained healthcare costs, and the fact that fewer than half of both groups have attempted to estimate healthcare expenses for retirement underscores a glaring blind spot that confidence alone can’t fix.
The Pressures Eroding Confidence: Debt, Healthcare, and Housing
65% of workers said debt is preventing them from saving adequately. Credit card debt, in particular, becomes a double-edged sword: high interest rates eat into cash flow, and the psychological weight of revolving balances makes it harder to visualize a comfortable future. Among workers carrying non-mortgage debt, totaling $15,000 or more on average, the confidence number nosedives to under 50%. These are not people without jobs; they are people whose monthly obligations have outpaced their ability to build a nest egg.
Healthcare costs in retirement now loom as the single biggest unplanned expense. EBRI modeling suggests a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2025 will need roughly $315,000 to cover Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs, not including long-term care. Yet the survey shows that fewer than half of workers even attempt a calculation, and of those who do, many underestimate the total. Rising housing costs further squeeze savings capacity, with nearly 1 in 4 workers describing their rent or mortgage as a direct barrier to retirement preparedness.
65% of workers say debt hurts their ability to save; credit card balances are the primary weight.
When people talk about “retirement confidence statistics,” they’re often looking at the big 60% figure and missing the reality that for a large minority of American workers, confidence is held together by a thin string of credit, and that string is fraying.
Social Security and Medicare Uncertainty Adds Fuel
The 2026 survey found that 80% of workers and 70% of retirees are concerned that the government will change the retirement system, and only about half are confident that Social Security and Medicare will provide benefits equal to what retirees receive today. This anxiety isn’t just theoretical: it directly suppresses current savings efforts, as workers express that they don’t know what baseline they can rely on. When the floor feels unreliable, it’s harder to build walls.
“Retirement confidence has clearly softened this year and the data show why,” notes Craig Copeland, Director of wealth benefits research at EBRI. The intertwining of program uncertainty with personal savings shortfalls creates a psychological drag that survey respondents are acutely aware of: when asked what would most improve their retirement outlook, a clear majority pointed to guarantees around Social Security benefits, not a sudden raise in their 401(k) balance.
This is where the “confidence paradox” bites hardest. Workers who are most worried about the safety net also tend to save less, ironically because they feel their fate isn’t fully in their own hands. Retirees, having navigated the transition, tend to report higher confidence but remain deeply anxious about potential reductions to cost-of-living adjustments.
The Savings Reality Behind the Confidence Claims
Median retirement account balances among working-age households are startlingly low. The National Institute on Retirement Security found that 57% of working-age households have no retirement account assets at all, and among those who do, the median balance for near-retirees hovers around $17,000. That $17,000, not a yearly income but a lifetime accumulation, must be stretched across two decades, confronting inflation and the very healthcare costs almost no one has calculated.
The gap between self-reported confidence and objective readiness is widest among those who haven’t consulted a professional. Only 24% of workers have sought help from a financial advisor, a number that has barely budged over ten years, and those who do are twice as likely to be “very confident.”
57% of working-age households have zero retirement account assets; the median balance for near-retirees is just $17,000.
Adjusting Retirement Timelines and Expectations
Workers are adding years: nearly 1 in 4 pushed back their target retirement age in the last year alone, and the average expected retirement age now sits just shy of 67. But historical data tells a cautionary tale, almost half of retirees leave the workforce earlier than planned, often due to health issues, a layoff, or caregiving demands. That mismatch means many people counting on late-career earnings to close a savings gap may find the runway shorter than they assumed.
There’s a simultaneous surge in interest in guaranteed monthly income products. Over 80% of workers expressed interest in a product that would provide a steady stream of retirement income, such as an annuity that bridges the years before Social Security. This is a tangible response to uncertainty: when confidence softens, people start craving floor-level protection.
| Retirement Timing | Workers | Retirees |
|---|---|---|
| Expected retirement age (median) | 67 | |
| Adjust planned date later (past year) | 24% | |
| Retired earlier than planned | 47% | |
| Interested in guaranteed monthly income product | 81% |
Kamal Bhatia, President and CEO of Principal Asset Management at Principal Financial Group, sums it up: “If half of the people feel they are well set on their path, I think what they’re really asking for is more tools for them to live through retirement. But the other half has very low confidence they’ll get to their destination, and they need more encouragement on saving.” The tools exist, the data show that few use them.
What This Means for You: 7 Steps to Bridge the Confidence Gap
The retirement confidence statistics don’t just describe a national mood, they give you a checklist of where your own plan might be brittle. Here are seven moves that directly address the cracks the data exposed.
- Calculate your retirement healthcare number first, not last. Only 42% of workers have done this, yet it’s the variable that most derails confidence. Use AARP’s healthcare cost estimator and treat the result as a floor, not a guess.
- Attack high-rate debt before boosting investments. If you’re among the 65% of workers whose debt is hurting savings, paying off credit card balances, which often carry 20%+ interest, gives you a guaranteed, tax-free return that outperforms most market expectations.
- Open a retirement account even with a tiny initial amount. 57% of working-age households have zero retirement account assets. Getting that first $500 into a Roth IRA or employer plan establishes the habit; automated contributions, even $25 a month, build in the background.
- Understand your Social Security claiming strategy. The 80% who worry about program changes often don’t optimize what already exists. Delaying benefits to age 70 can increase monthly checks by 24%, a risk-free boost that directly addresses anxiety about future benefit cuts.
- Draft a one-page retirement income plan with a guaranteed income floor. Over 80% of workers want guaranteed monthly income, and products like deferred annuities or Social Security bridge strategies are available. Even a simple projection that covers essential expenses (housing, food, Medicare premiums) can pivot your confidence from vague to anchored.
- Rehearse an earlier-than-planned retirement scenario. Almost half of retirees leave work earlier than expected, often due to health. Run a “what if” budget that assumes you stop working at 62 instead of 67. Adjust today’s savings rate to make that scenario tenable, not a crisis. AI wealth management tools designed for first-time investors under $10,000 can help model these outcomes even with modest balances.
- Talk to a fiduciary advisor for one hour. Only 24% of workers have sought professional advice, yet those who do are twice as likely to be very confident. An independent, fee-only session, no product pitches, can identify gaps you’d miss alone. Some hybrid AI-human advisory services now offer low-cost entry points for this conversation.
Feeling ready is very different than actually being ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the current retirement confidence statistic for American workers?
According to the 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey, 61% of workers feel either somewhat or very confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement, a drop from 68% just a year earlier and the lowest reading in nearly a decade.
Are retirees more confident than workers?
Yes. Retirees report a 73% confidence level in 2026, compared with 61% for workers. However, this higher confidence often coexists with vulnerability, nearly half retired earlier than planned, and many face larger-than-expected healthcare costs.
What percentage of Americans have no retirement savings at all?
Data from the National Institute on Retirement Security shows that 57% of working-age households have zero retirement account assets. The median account balance for the bottom half of savers is effectively $0, a stark contrast to the 64% overall confidence figure.
How does debt affect retirement confidence?
The EBRI survey found that 65% of workers say debt is a household problem, and three in five report it is hurting their ability to save for retirement. Among those carrying non-mortgage debt, confidence drops below 50%.
What role does Social Security uncertainty play in retirement confidence?
About 80% of workers worry that Social Security will not deliver benefits equal to today’s retirees, and only half are confident Medicare will remain fully reliable. This uncertainty depresses savings efforts because people don’t know how much they can count on from government programs.
How many workers have calculated healthcare costs in retirement?
Only 42% of workers have tried to estimate how much they’ll need for healthcare expenses in retirement, according to the 2026 RCS. EBRI’s modeling suggests a typical 65-year-old couple needs about $315,000 just for premiums and out-of-pocket costs, making the lack of calculation a major preparedness gap.
Do financial advisors improve retirement confidence?
Yes. Workers who consult a financial advisor are twice as likely to be “very confident” about retirement. Yet only 24% of workers have sought professional guidance, a figure that has remained largely flat across the past decade.
What is the expected retirement age for today’s workers?
The median expected retirement age among workers is now 67, and 24% shifted their target later in the last year. However, nearly half of retirees actually left the workforce earlier than planned, often because of health issues or job loss.
How many workers are interested in guaranteed retirement income products?
Over 80% of workers expressed interest in a product that would provide a monthly income stream to bridge the gap before Social Security or supplement it, reflecting a strong desire for floor-level protection amid declining confidence.
Has retirement confidence changed since the COVID-19 pandemic?
Yes. Retirement confidence statistics peaked at 72% among workers in 2020 during the initial recovery, then steadily declined as inflation, housing costs, and healthcare worries intensified. The pandemic served as a one-time shock that accelerated early retirements but also eroded the savings cushion for many.
