The average age at which U.S. retirees report retiring is 62, the highest Gallup has found since first asking Americans this question in 1991.
This age has increased in recent years, while the average age at which non-retired Americans expect to retire, 66, has largely stayed the same. However, this age, too, has slowly increased from 63 in 2002.
Americans’ average self-reported age of retirement has slowly moved upward. Several polls in the early 1990s found that the average retirement age was 57 in both 1991 and 1993. From 2002 through 2012, the average hovered around 60. Over the past two years, the average age at which Americans report retiring has increased to 62.
“Retirement age may be increasing because many baby boomers are reluctant to retire,” Gallup notes. “Older Americans may also be delaying retirement because of lost savings during the Great Recession or because of insufficient savings even before the economic downturn.
Meanwhile, the average age at which non-retired Americans expect to retire has also increased over time, from 60 in 1995 to 66 this year. Furthermore, in 1995, more non-retired Americans expected to retire younger—15% expected to retire before age 55, compared with 4% in 2014.
About 30% of non-retired Americans in all age groups expect to retire before the age of 65. But 11% of 18- to 29-year-olds expect to retire before age 55, a much higher percentage than other groups.
Gallup says this could be because younger Americans, given the many years they have until retirement, may not understand the financial realities and challenges of funding retirement that middle-aged Americans are more familiar with.
The majority of all age groups expect to retire at age 65 or older. This includes 62% of 18- to 29-year-olds, 62% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 58% of 50- to 64-year-olds. At the same time, an optimistic 15% of the youngest age group expects to retire before age 60.
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