New Numbers on the Non-College Retirement Challenge

A college degree often determines how prepared—or not—Americans are for retirement.¹ Our research shows that retirees without a degree have lower incomes, fewer assets, poorer health, and are far more reliant on federal safety net programs. Newly released data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances sheds new light on the non-college retirement challenge. Three key trends emerged:

• Non-college seniors have more savings than before the pandemic but are still falling behind the college educated. In 2022, the typical non-college senior with retirement savings had $102,000, compared to $273,000 for those with a degree.² Since 2019, real retirement assets rose by $20,000 for non-college seniors.³ But for seniors with a degree, retirement assets increased by $40,000.⁴
• Many non-college workers near retirement remain unprepared. Between 2019 and 2022, the share of non-college workers ages 55-64 with some type of retirement account—including IRAs, 401(k) plans, and defined benefit pensions—fell slightly from 67% to 65%.⁵ And the percentage with any retirement savings dipped from 57% to 56%.⁶ In comparison, among college-educated workers approaching retirement, 90% had some type of retirement plan in 2022 and 83% had retirement savings.⁷
• Non-college workers aged 25-54 are still saving at much lower rates than those with a degree. In 2022, 49% of workers without a four-year degree had retirement savings and 56% had some type of retirement plan. This is an improvement over 2019, when only 46% of non-college workers in this age category had any retirement savings and 53% had some type of retirement account. But the college-educated remained far ahead: 77% had retirement savings and 83% had a retirement plan.