The 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey, conducted jointly by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research, finds that Americans are less confident about retirement than at any point since 2017. Both workers and retirees reported declining confidence, driven by a combination of rising costs, growing debt burdens, healthcare expenses, and deepening concern about the future of Social Security and Medicare. Workers are also finding it harder to handle financial emergencies, with emergency savings readiness slipping from prior years. At the same time, a gap persists between when workers expect to retire and when retirees actually did — most retired before age 65, often earlier than planned. The findings highlight a retirement landscape that is growing more complex, with Americans facing immediate financial pressure alongside long-term structural uncertainty.