A national survey finds that Millennials and Generation X are more worried about retirement as compared to older generations. Sixty-four percent of Millennials and 54 percent of Generation X are more concerned about their retirement security in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The level of concern is at 42 percent for Baby Boomers and 25 percent for the Silent Generation

Generational Views of Retirement in the United States finds that:

  • Millennials and Generation X are most concerned about the impacts of COVID-19 on their retirement. Across generations, most of those who are concerned about the impacts of the pandemic plan to delay their retirement.
  • There is generational agreement that the U.S. faces a retirement crisis, with Millennials and Generation X most pessimistic about retirement.
  • There is broad support across generations for Social Security, including support for increasing contributions and expanding benefits.
  • All generations have favorable views of defined benefit pensions, with Millennials holding the most favorable views. There is wide agreement generationally that pensions are better than 401(k) plans for providing retirement security, and that everyone should have a pension.

Conducted by Greenwald Research, information for this study was collected from interviews conducted between December 4–10, 2020, of 1,203 individuals aged 25 and older. The final data were weighted by age, gender, and income to reflect the demographics of Americans aged 25 and older. Tabulations in some of the charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

For the purposes of this research, Millennials include those ages 25 to 43, Generation X includes those ages 44 to 55, Baby Boomers include those ages 56 to 74, and the Silent generation includes those age 75 or older.