What is the average retirement income in the U.S.?

The median annual income for U.S. adults 65 and older was $56,680 in 2024, and the mean was $87,260, according to the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What is the average monthly retirement income?

On a monthly basis, the median income for adults 65 and older was about $4,723 in 2024, and the mean was about $7,272, based on a Motley Fool analysis of Census Bureau data.

What is the median retirement income in the U.S.?

The median monthly income for adults 65 and older is about $4,723, and the mean is about $7,272 (but keep in mind that not all adults over 65 are retired, or that many adults younger than 65 are retired).

The Average Retirement Income in 2026

What's the average retirement income for Americans, and is it enough to live on? Here's the latest data.

By Jack Caporal – Updated Jul 8, 2026 at 7:21 PM EST | Fact-checked by Frank Bass

Key Points

Median annual income for U.S. adults 65+ rose to $56,680 in 2024, while mean income was $87,260.
Retirees spent $59,616 on average in 2024 but earned $57,622, creating a $2,000 shortfall.
81% of retirees report managing financially well despite their income-spending gap.

The median annual income for Americans 65 and older was $56,680 in 2024, up from $54,710 the year before, according to the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. The mean was $87,260, and that gap between the two figures only widens further up the income ladder.

Retirement-age households are also spending more than they receive. Households headed by someone who identifies their occupation as retired (what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls the household's "reference person") spent an average of $59,616 in 2024, about $2,000 more than the $57,622 they earned before taxes. On paper, that's a real shortfall. In practice, however, most retirees say they're managing fine.

The Motley Fool analyzed data from multiple government sources to provide a clear look at how much retirement income the average person actually receives, how far it stretches against spending, and whether retirees think it's enough.

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Pension

A pension is a type of retirement plan that promises workers a specific monthly benefit when they retire.

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Average retirement income

Income for Americans 65 and older is far from evenly distributed, and it drops sharply for the oldest retirees. Adults aged 65 to 74 had a median income of $65,100 and a mean of $97,620 in 2024, compared with a median of $47,790 and a mean of $73,820 for those aged 75 and older, according to the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Population Survey.

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Data source: Census Bureau (2025)
Age group	Median annual income	Mean annual income
65 and older	$56,680	$87,260
65 to 74	$65,100	$97,620
75 and older	$47,790	$73,820

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On a monthly basis, the median income for adults 65 and older works out to about $4,723, and the mean to about $7,272. A common question is whether $4,000 a month is enough to live on in retirement. That figure falls just below the overall median but above the $3,983 median for those 75 and older.

Income varies enormously within the 65-and-older group. According to a Motley Fool analysis of Census Bureau income brackets, the bottom 10% of adults 65 and older earned less than roughly $15,000 in 2024, while the top 10% earned more than roughly $188,000, a gap wide enough that a relatively small share of wealthy retirees pulls the mean well above what a typical retiree actually earns.

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Data source: Census Bureau, author's calculations (2025).
Percentile	Annual income, adults 65+
10th	~$15,000
25th	~$27,960
50th (median)	$56,680
75th	~$108,600
90th	~$188,500

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A retiree at the 90th percentile brings in more than 12 times the amount that a retiree at the 10th percentile does, which is the real reason "average" retirement income is a slippery number to benchmark against.

How many households receive retirement income

Roughly 1 in 4 U.S. households collects retirement income of some kind, whether from a pension, a 401(k), or an IRA, and that share isn't limited to households headed by someone 65 or older. About 31.3 million U.S. households, or 24% of all households, reported retirement income in 2024, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

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Data source: Census Bureau (2025).
	Households	Share of all households
Receive retirement income	31.3 million	24%
Do not receive retirement income	97.9 million	76%

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Households that receive retirement income collect an average of $33,349, and together, U.S. households collected $1.04 trillion in retirement income in 2024. That means retirement income is already flowing through a quarter of American households today -- not something that starts only once a person turns 65.

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Asset

An asset is a resource used to hold or create economic value.

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Retirement spending vs. income

Households headed by someone who identifies their occupation as retired, rather than by age, spent more than they earned in 2024. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey put average income before taxes for these households at $57,622 and average spending at $59,616, a shortfall of roughly $2,000.

That shortfall runs counter to U.S. households generally. All consumer units spent about $78,535, against an average pretax income of $104,207, a $25,672 gap.

But that gap mostly reflects taxes and savings -- money that was never available to spend in the first place, rather than income left over.

Retired households have largely finished paying into savings and often owe less in taxes, so a household of retirees spending more than they report earning is a plainer signal: some are drawing down savings or getting income, such as Social Security, that this particular survey doesn't fully capture.

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Data source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025).
	Retired reference person	All consumer units
Income before taxes	$57,622	$104,207
Total spending	$59,616	$78,535
Housing	$22,079	$26,266
Food	$8,021	$10,169
Transportation	$9,244	$13,318
Healthcare	$7,735	$6,197
Entertainment	$3,085	$3,609
Personal insurance and pensions	$1,893	$9,797
Apparel	$1,199	$2,001

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Retired households spend less than the typical U.S. household in almost every category, which tracks with lower incomes and fewer dependents. Healthcare is the one exception: retired households spend $7,735 on healthcare compared to $6,197 for all consumer units, a reminder that medical bills, not everyday living costs, are the harder expense to plan around once someone stops working. For readers still building toward retirement, average retirement savings is the natural next data point to check against this spending.

Do retirees have enough income?

On average, retired households spend more than they take in, yet most retirees say they're doing fine financially. Among people who consider themselves retired, 81% say they're at least OK financially, compared to 70% of people who aren't retired, according to the Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking.

That disconnect suggests the income-versus-spending math on paper doesn't fully capture how retirees experience their finances. Many have already paid off a mortgage or other major debts by the time they retire, and "enough" may simply mean something different once a paycheck is no longer part of the picture.

Filling the gaps in retirement income

Retirement income and spending vary by age, occupation status, and income source. Still, two patterns hold across nearly every cut of the data: Income rarely runs far ahead of spending, and most retirees report managing fine regardless. That combination points to a financial picture that's tighter on paper than it feels day-to-day for many retirees.

Retirement income also isn't limited to a single source. The Motley Fool's research on where retirement income comes from breaks down how much retirees rely on Social Security versus pensions, 401(k)s, and other investments. Readers curious how their expected Social Security benefit compares to what current retirees receive can find the latest figures on The Motley Fool's average Social Security check page. For anyone still years from retiring, The Motley Fool's retirement savings gap statistics show how many working Americans are currently on track to have enough saved, and The Motley Fool's retirement planning guide is a starting point for building a plan. Retirees or near-retirees looking to stretch savings further can also compare high-yield savings accounts as a place to hold cash they aren't ready to draw down yet.

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About the Author

Jack Caporal is the Research Director for The Motley Fool and Motley Fool Money. Jack leads efforts to identify and analyze trends shaping investing and personal financial decisions across the United States. His research has appeared in thousands of media outlets including Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and CNBC, and has been cited in congressional testimony. He previously covered business and economic trends as a reporter and policy analyst in Washington, D.C. He serves as Chair of the Trade Policy Committee at the World Trade Center in Denver, Colorado. He holds a B.A. degree in International Relations with a concentration in International Economics from Michigan State University.

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The Average Retirement Income in 2026

What's the average retirement income for Americans, and is it enough to live on? Here's the latest data.