Financial Anxiety Among Women 50+ Persists With Half Feeling Less Secure Than a Year Ago

Rising costs are driving widespread economic anxiety among women voters 50 and older, particularly those ages 50–64, who report significantly greater financial insecurity than their older counterparts and men 50 and older, according to this survey of U.S. voters. Just over half of women age 50-plus (51%) say they feel less financially secure than they did a year ago, and fewer than half feel confident (11% very confident, 33% somewhat confident) they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement. Their concerns are largely due to rising cost of living, worries that Social Security will not be enough to make ends meet and unease about the broader economy.

This survey finds that cost of living is the top concern facing women voters 50 and older by a wide margin, with nearly half (48%) citing it as the biggest issue in the country. Confidence in the economy remains low: Fewer than half say the economy is working well for them personally, including just 35% of women 50–64, and half expect the economy to get worse over the next year. 

Health care is also a major pressure point for women 50–64: Only 45% say they can afford their health care costs, compared to 73% of women 65 and older and 64% of men 50–64. Many older women report making difficult trade-offs to manage rising health care expenses. Among women ages 50–64, 38% have skipped medical care, 22% have gone into debt, and 20% have skipped or reduced prescription medication doses because of cost. By contrast, men 65 and older are far less likely to view health care costs as a concern: 80% of men in this group say they can afford their expenses.

Additional findings

• Women 50 and older are more worried than their male peers about saving for retirement (45% vs. 34%) and covering an emergency expense (48% vs. 34%). More than 4 in 10 cannot cover a $400 emergency using savings or checking alone, including 15% of women 50-plus who say they cannot cover it at all.
• Nearly two-thirds (62%) of women 50–64 say their personal finances are falling short of what they expected at this stage of life — compared with 39% of women 65 and older, 54% of men 50–64 and 31% of men 65 and older.
• Among working women 50 and older, 36% say they do not expect to have a pension or retirement account to rely on, rising to nearly 6 in 10 among those without a college degree.
• Over half (54%) of women 50 and older are current or former unpaid family caregivers for an adult loved one, yet fewer than half (45%) are confident they have people prepared to provide care for them.

Methodology

Echelon Insights, in collaboration with GBAO Strategies, conducted a survey on behalf of AARP to understand the views of voters in the likely electorate, with a focus on women voters 50 and older. The survey was fielded online December 9 to 16, 2025, in English using nonprobability sampling. The final sample included 2,593 voters nationwide, including an oversample of 1,188 women voters 50 and older. Respondents were drawn from the Lucid sample exchange and matched to the L2 voter file to verify voter registration status.

For more information, contact Kate Bridges at kbridges@aarp.org. For media inquiries, contact External Relations at media@aarp.org.