13 Scary Retirement Statistics to Read in the Dark

4. A mere 4% of retirees are debt-free.

According to an Employee Benefit Research Institute analysis published in early October, just 4% of retirees in the U.S. are currently debt-free, down from 6% in 2020.

The most common types of debt outstanding among retirees include credit cards (40%), mortgages (30%) and car loans (23%). Overall, 11% report having medical debt outstanding. Black and Hispanic retirees were more likely to report all three types of debt.

Among those retirees who have debt, however, the vast majority report their level of debt is manageable. Specifically, 46% of retirees with debt reported an “easily manageable” level of debt or no debt, while 43% percent reported a “manageable level” of debt.

The remaining 11% report either an “unmanageable” or “crushing” level of debt. Retirees that were dissatisfied with their retirement were 2.6-times as likely to report unmanageable or crushing debt. At the same time, retirees who claimed to have low financial knowledge were nearly twice as likely to report high debt levels.

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