More Americans are staying on the job past 65, extending a shift that has been building for decades. In 2025, 19.1 percent of people 65 and older were in the labor force, meaning they were working or looking for work, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That was below the recent peak of 20.2 percent in 2019, but still well above the 12.9 percent recorded in 2000. The figures show retirement is no longer a clean break at 65 for many Americans, and economists say the reasons range from better health to the need for income and health coverage.
Federal data show a long rise in work after 65
The clearest marker came in BLS data published May 28, 2026, based on 2025 annual averages from the Current Population Survey. The agency said 19.1 percent of people 65 and older participated in the labor force in 2025. For men 65 and older, the rate was 23.1 percent. For women, it was 15.7 percent.
The longer trend is sharper than the year-to-year movement. In 2000, labor force participation for people 65 and older stood at 12.9 percent. By 2019, before the pandemic-era disruptions, it had climbed to 20.2 percent. BLS also reported that in 2024, women ages 65 to 69 had a participation rate of 29.4 percent, while men in that age group were at 37.9 percent.
The pattern extends beyond a single age band. BLS employment projections show the overall labor force participation rate for Americans 16 and older was 62.4 percent in 2025, down slightly from 62.7 percent in 2015. But among prime-age workers ages 25 to 54, participation rose to 83.6 percent in 2025, showing that older workers are part of a labor market that has remained active even as the population ages.
This is a nationwide trend, not one tied to a single state or city. The federal data used here are national figures, and the source material does not break out local numbers for specific communities. That means the broad direction is clear, while the local effect varies by employer, income, health and access to retirement savings.
Even so, the size of the older workforce is large enough to matter in daily life. BLS said nearly one in five Americans 65 and older were in the labor force in 2025. That translates into millions of older workers staying in offices, stores, schools, hospitals and small businesses past what used to be a standard retirement age.
The data also show that working longer is more common for some groups than others. Men 65 and older remained more likely to be in the labor force than women in 2025, 23.1 percent to 15.7 percent. And participation drops with age: rates for people 75 and older were much lower than for those ages 65 to 69, according to BLS tables.
Researchers at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College said labor force participation at older ages has gradually increased since the early 1990s. In a 2025 analysis, the center said participation in 2024 was higher at almost any age than it was in 1994. The report also said 2024 participation for older men looked similar to 1964 levels at some ages, underscoring how far the rebound has gone.
The center pointed to several reasons for the change. One is a long-running increase in women’s attachment to the workforce over their lifetimes, which makes work at older ages more likely. Another is the decline in employer-provided retiree health insurance, which, paired with rising health care costs, has pushed some workers to delay retirement until they are eligible for Medicare at 65.
Social Security analysts have also linked later retirement to longer life expectancy and changing retirement incentives. The Social Security Administration said projected participation rates are adjusted upward at mid-career and older ages to reflect longer lives. What comes next is likely to be slower growth, not a reversal. The Center for Retirement Research said substantial further increases in the ability to work longer are unlikely to move the average retirement age as much in coming decades.