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
1941
- National Average Wage: $1,021
- Cost to Retire: $10,210
1942
- National Average Wage: $1,142
- Cost to Retire: $11,420
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
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
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.