What is the average age of retirement for men and women in 2023?
One can retire, with enough money, at any age but if you want to claim Social Security you have to be at least 62. But at what age do Americans retire?
Over the past three decades there has been little improvement in the wage gap between men and women. While those women in the early years of their career are currently earning roughly 92 cents for every dollar their male counterparts get paid, the gender pay gap grows to nearly 20 cents for between male and female workers of all ages according to Pew Research Center data.
Despite this, surveys from the US Census Bureau and Forbes found that the average retirement age for women was earlier than that of men. But in general, according to a 2022 Gallup poll Americans are now working later in life compared to 30 years ago.
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What is the average age of retirement for men and women in 2023?
The average retirement age across gender was 61 years of age in 2022 Gallup found. That is four years older than what Americans reported back in 1991. This could have to do with the fact that changes to Social Security enacted in the 1980s are beginning to affect those who are considering retiring nowadays.
While those that have contributed at least 10 years’ worth of Social Security taxes can claim benefits at age 62, they will be penalized for not waiting until full retirement age (FRA). For those born after 1955, it was 66 and two months increasing gradually by birth year to the age of 67 for those born in 1960 or later. And that doesn’t take into account that benefits are calculated based on in part on your 35 highest-earning years.
The most recent data on the average age of retirement between men and women comes from Forbes. As of 2021, the publication found that women on average retired at 62 while men were retiring at 65.
Why are women retiring earlier than men?
Much of caregiving in families falls disproportionately upon women. That goes to providing care for children and adults, and not just for elderly family members. The National Partnership for Women & Families found that women spend around twice as much time caregiving, unpaid, as men do on average.
While women intend to keep working when asked in surveys into their late 60s and early 70s, two thirds said that their leaving the workforce and retiring was for “reasons outside their control” when responding to the 2022 Goldman Sachs Retirement Survey & Insights Report. The report said that women were more likely than men to say that they retired in order to take care of a family member.
The top factor for women was a health reason, while men’s top factor was because they were tired of working, 29 percent of respondents in each case.