What the data show about financial safety nets and retirement

Financial hardship in later life is part of a broader national picture. Federal data show that millions of people remain below poverty thresholds, while many adults report limited ability to handle an unexpected expense.

The U.S. Census Bureau recorded an official poverty rate of 10.2% in 2025. That amounted to 34.5 million people below the official poverty line. Under the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which uses a different method, the poverty rate was 13.1%.

Social Security remains an important source of support. Census Bureau data show that Social Security moved 28.8 million people above the Supplemental Poverty Measure threshold in 2025. The program was also the sole income source for 28% of adult beneficiaries in 2021.

Older adults were among those affected by poverty. The Census Bureau counted 4.7 million older adults living in poverty in 2021. In that year, 63% of older adults in poverty lived alone.

Living alone can make a financial setback harder to absorb because there may be fewer household resources available to cover basic costs. The available figures do not show how any individual household manages its expenses, but they do show that poverty among older adults is widespread enough to be measured nationally.

Emergency savings are another part of the picture. In 2024, 63% of adults said they could cover a $400 emergency expense with cash or an equivalent resource. That also means a substantial share of adults did not report being able to fully cover that expense using those resources.

Retirement preparation remains uneven as well. The Federal Reserve found that 35% of nonretired adults considered their retirement savings plan on track in 2024. The figure describes how people assessed their own plans; it does not establish whether any individual will have enough money in retirement.

Taken together, the federal figures point to three pressures: poverty among older adults, reliance on Social Security and limited emergency capacity. They provide national context for concerns about financial security without establishing the personal circumstances of any particular reader.