How Much It Cost To Retire in the Year You Were Born

Joel Anderson

Thu, 25 Jul 2024, 9:00 am8-min read

Stígur Már Karlsson /Heimsmyndir / iStock.com

For those nearing retirement, especially for middle-aged workers, the question of how much you will actually need to retire can continue to eat at you as you approach that magical day where you stop punching the clock and start living the good life.

One popular way to calculate how much you need to retire is by using Fidelity Investment’s “10x income rule.” According to Fidelity, in order to maintain a quality of life similar to what you had while working, you should save 10 times your annual income before retiring at age 67.

Of course, that figure has changed significantly over the years. Nothing quite puts decades of inflation into perspective like seeing how much (or how little, as the case may be) it took for your grandparents and great grandparents to retire. Annual incomes today are very different than they were 20, 30 or more years ago. If you’re planning on hitting the number your grandparents did and calling it quits, odds are good that you’re going to be well short of what you’ll ultimately need. That’s because, if your grandma and grandpa retired in, say, 1940, when the income for an average American was under $1,000, you would need an additional $645,000 or so at today’s average wages than they did 84 years ago.

That’s why GOBankingRates has calculated what 10 times income would look like in each of the past 65 years using data on average annual wages provided by the U.S. Social Security Administration. Find out how much you’d need to survive retirement throughout the years.

1940

National Average Wage: $932
Cost to Retire: $9,320

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1941

National Average Wage: $1,021
Cost to Retire: $10,210

1942

National Average Wage: $1,142
Cost to Retire: $11,420

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1943

National Average Wage: $1,310
Cost to Retire: $13,100

1944

National Average Wage: $1,392
Cost to Retire: $13,920

1945

National Average Wage: $1,357
Cost to Retire: $13,570

1946

National Average Wage: $1,414
Cost to Retire: $14,140

1947

National Average Wage: $1,602
Cost to Retire: $16,020

1948

National Average Wage: $1,716
Cost to Retire: $17,160

1949

National Average Wage: $1,748
Cost to Retire: $17,480

1950

National Average Wage: $1,819
Cost to Retire: $18,190

1951

National Average Wage: $2,799
Cost to Retire: $27,992

1952

National Average Wage: $2,973
Cost to Retire: $29,733

1953

National Average Wage: $3,139
Cost to Retire: $31,394

1954

National Average Wage: $3,156
Cost to Retire: $31,556

1955

National Average Wage: $3,301
Cost to Retire: $33,014

1956

National Average Wage: $3,532
Cost to Retire: $35,324

1957

National Average Wage: $3,642
Cost to Retire: $36,417

1958

National Average Wage: $3,674
Cost to Retire: $36,738

1959

National Average Wage: $3,856
Cost to Retire: $38,558

1960

National Average Wage: $4,007
Cost to Retire: $40,071

1961

National Average Wage: $4,087
Cost to Retire: $40,867

1962

National Average Wage: $4,291
Cost to Retire: $42,914

1963

National Average Wage: $4,397
Cost to Retire: $43,966

1964

National Average Wage: $4,576
Cost to Retire: $45,763

1965

National Average Wage: $4,659
Cost to Retire: $46,587

1966

National Average Wage: $4,938
Cost to Retire: $49,384

1967

National Average Wage: $5,213
Cost to Retire: $52,134

1968

National Average Wage: $5,572
Cost to Retire: $55,718

1969

National Average Wage: $5,894
Cost to Retire: $58,938

1970

National Average Wage: $6,186
Cost to Retire: $61,862

1971

National Average Wage: $6,497
Cost to Retire: $64,971

1972

National Average Wage: $7,134
Cost to Retire: $71,338

1973

National Average Wage: $7,580
Cost to Retire: $75,802

1974

National Average Wage: $8,031
Cost to Retire: $80,308

1975

National Average Wage: $8,631
Cost to Retire: $86,309

1976

National Average Wage: $9,226
Cost to Retire: $92,265

1977

National Average Wage: $9,779
Cost to Retire: $97,794

1978

National Average Wage: $10,556
Cost to Retire: $105,560

1979

National Average Wage: $11,479
Cost to Retire: $114,795

1980

National Average Wage: $12,513
Cost to Retire: $125,135

1981

National Average Wage: $13,773
Cost to Retire: $137,731

1982

National Average Wage: $14,531
Cost to Retire: $145,313

1983

National Average Wage: $15,239
Cost to Retire: $152,392

1984

National Average Wage: $16,135
Cost to Retire: $161,351

1985

National Average Wage: $16,823
Cost to Retire: $168,225

1986

National Average Wage: $17,322
Cost to Retire: $173,218

1987

National Average Wage: $18,427
Cost to Retire: $184,265

1988

National Average Wage: $19,334
Cost to Retire: $193,340

1989

National Average Wage: $20,100
Cost to Retire: $200,996

1990

National Average Wage: $21,028
Cost to Retire: $210,280

1991

National Average Wage: $21,812
Cost to Retire: $218,116

1992

National Average Wage: $22,935
Cost to Retire: $229,354

1993

National Average Wage: $23,133
Cost to Retire: $231,327

1994

National Average Wage: $23,754
Cost to Retire: $237,535

1995

National Average Wage: $24,706
Cost to Retire: $247,057

1996

National Average Wage: $25,914
Cost to Retire: $259,139

1997

National Average Wage: $27,426
Cost to Retire: $274,260

1998

National Average Wage: $28,861
Cost to Retire: $288,614

1999

National Average Wage: $30,470
Cost to Retire: $304,698

2000

National Average Wage: $32,155
Cost to Retire: $321,548

2001

National Average Wage: $32,922
Cost to Retire: $329,219

2002

National Average Wage: $33,252
Cost to Retire: $332,521

2003

National Average Wage: $34,065
Cost to Retire: $340,650

2004

National Average Wage: $35,649
Cost to Retire: $356,486

2005

National Average Wage: $36,9523
Cost to Retire: $369,529

2006

National Average Wage: $38,651
Cost to Retire: $386,514

2007

National Average Wage: $40,405
Cost to Retire: $404,055

2008

National Average Wage: $41,335
Cost to Retire: $413,350

2009

National Average Wage: $40,712
Cost to Retire: $407,116

2010

National Average Wage: $41,674
Cost to Retire: $416,738

2011

National Average Wage: $42,980
Cost to Retire: $429,796

2012

National Average Wage: $44,322
Cost to Retire: $443,217

2013

National Average Wage: $44,888
Cost to Retire: $448,882

2014

National Average Wage: $46,482
Cost to Retire: $464,815

2015

National Average Wage: $48,099
Cost to Retire: $480,986

2016

National Average Wage: $48,642
Cost to Retire: $486,422

Vasyl Dolmatov / Getty Images/iStockphoto

2017

National Average Wage: $50,322
Cost to Retire: $503,219

2018

National Average Wage: $52,146
Cost to Retire: $521,458

2019

National Average Wage: $54,100
Cost to Retire: $541,000

2020

National Average Wage: $55,6289
Cost to Retire: $556,287

2021

National Average Wage: $60,575
Cost to Retire: $605,751

kate_sept2004 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

2022

National Average Wage: $63,795
Cost to Retire: $637,951

2023

National Average Wage: $65,470
Cost to Retire: $654,700

Jordan Rosenfeld contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: For this piece GOBankingRates used the Social Security Administration’s national wage index and Bureau of Labor Statistic’s 2022 Wage data to find the (1) national average wage for every year from 1940 through 2022. Then using Fidelity’s advice that you should have 10x of your income saved for retirement by 67, GOBankingRates found (2) the amount you should have saved for retirement for each year from 1940 to 2022. All data was collected and is up to date as of July 17, 2024.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Much It Cost To Retire in the Year You Were Born

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