How Many Retirees Have No Savings Beyond Social Security

About three in 10 households headed by someone 65 or older, roughly 11.6 million households, have no retirement account or pension at all, according to a 2022 Federal Reserve survey. The question of how many retirees have no savings turns out to have a fairly stark answer once you look past averages and into the actual distribution of wealth among older Americans.

What the Numbers Actually Show

The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, the government's most detailed look at household wealth, is the source for these figures, and 2022 is the most recent year available. The typical older household, meaning one led by someone 65 or older, holds about $88,000 in financial assets. That sounds reasonably comfortable until you isolate the households with no retirement account or pension. Their median financial holdings drop to just $2,600.

Widen the lens to retirement accounts alone, ignoring pensions, and the picture gets worse. About 19.6 million older households, or roughly 53%, have nothing in an IRA, 401(k), or similar account. That does not automatically mean they are destitute. Slightly more than half of them still collect a traditional pension, and others have savings parked in brokerage accounts, bank savings, or certificates of deposit.

The Households With Almost Nothing

Within that group of 11.6 million households lacking both a retirement account and a pension, 7.3 million, about 20% of all older households, also have less than $10,000 in financial assets of any kind. Roughly 14% of older households check all three boxes: no retirement account, no pension, and under $10,000 saved, and they also do not own a home. For this slice of the older population, Social Security, wages, and whatever sits in a checking account are essentially the whole safety net.

Close up of an elderly person's hands counting coins and cash on a wooden table.

A Persistent Problem That Isn't Shrinking

The share of older households with little or nothing saved has barely moved over the past 25 years. In 1998, 19.5% of older households had no retirement account, no pension, and less than $10,000 in financial assets. By 2022, that figure was 19.8%, almost unchanged. But because the population of older households grew by 68% over that stretch, the raw number in this precarious position jumped from 4.3 million to 7.3 million, a 71% increase.

Marital Status Widens the Gap

Being single in retirement carries a real financial cost. Among Americans 65 or older, 69% of single women and 65% of single men have nothing in an IRA, 401(k), or other retirement account. Among married or partnered households, that figure is 37%. These numbers leave out pensions and Social Security, so a single retiree without a dime in a retirement account might still have income from other sources. Even so, the gap between single and partnered households is hard to ignore.

The trend for younger workers offers little reassurance. Median retirement savings among working adults ages 21 to 64 stood at just $955 in 2022, according to a National Institute on Retirement Security analysis of Census data. The group pointed to that figure as evidence of how fragile the broader retirement system has become.

What Happens as This Generation Ages Further

The data raises an uncomfortable question: if the share of underprepared households hasn't budged in a quarter century while their raw numbers keep climbing, what changes that trajectory? Social Security's role as a primary income source for millions of retirees is unlikely to shrink anytime soon, and younger workers entering the pipeline show even thinner savings cushions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you retire with no savings?

Yes, technically, since Social Security and any pension income can support a retiree, though the standard of living is often limited without additional savings or assets.

How many seniors have no savings?

About 30% of households headed by someone 65 or older have no retirement account or pension, and roughly 20% have less than $10,000 in financial assets on top of that.