That’s down from last year, as financial burdens, rising costs and growing concerns about the future of Social Security and Medicare weigh on workers and retirees alike, with 64% of Americans saying they are confident they will have enough money to live comfortably through retirement.
Some of the key findings from the 36th Annual Retirement Confidence Survey, jointly conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Research, have been released.
• Confidence in retirement has declined among both workers and retirees. Workers’ confidence that they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement has fallen by 6 percentage points to 61% from 2025, and retirees’ confidence has fallen by 5 percentage points to 73%.
• Concerns about changes to retirement plans remain high. Seven in 10 retirees and four in five workers said they were concerned the government would make changes to America’s retirement system. Confidence in the future value of Social Security and Medicare benefits also declined. Only about half of workers and six in 10 retirees said they were confident that these programs would continue to provide benefits of equal value in the future.
• Economic health deteriorated, delaying emergency preparedness. Fewer than two in five workers and retirees rated their household’s financial well-being as at least very good. Fewer than three in five workers say they have enough savings to handle emergency expenses, down from 64% in 2025. Among retirees, less than 7 in 10 said the same, down from 74%.
• Debt remains a major obstacle, especially for workers. 65% of workers said debt was a problem for their household finances, and a quarter said debt was a major problem. Half of workers have credit card debt, and nearly one in three have more than $25,000 in non-mortgage debt. About 3 in 5 workers and 3 in 10 retirees say debt has a negative impact on their savings and retirement comfort.
• Health care costs continue to burden Americans before and during retirement. Nearly 6 in 10 workers say medical costs are hurting their ability to save for retirement, and 2 in 5 retirees say their retirement health costs were higher than they expected. Fewer than half of workers and retirees said they had calculated how much they would need to save for health care costs in retirement.
• Housing costs are also a pressure factor. Seven in 10 workers and half of retirees are concerned that rising housing costs will affect their retirement. Three in five workers and a third of retirees said rising housing costs were already hurting their ability to save.
• Workers increasingly expect to retire in the future and continue working after retirement.
• Many Americans still don’t know where to turn for guidance on retirement. More than two in five employees and a quarter of retirees say they don’t know where to turn for financial and retirement planning advice.
