How this calculator works
Social Security's actuaries publish a life table for the Social Security area population, and we use the latest: the 2023 period life table used in the 2026 Trustees Report. For men and women separately, at every age from 0 to 119, it gives the chance of dying within the year, how many of 100,000 babies born are still alive at that age, and the average number of years left, which is the life expectancy.
Your life expectancy is your age plus that average. The chance of reaching a later age is the chance of getting through each year in between, multiplied together: the same arithmetic that builds the table's column of survivors. Inside each year we spread deaths evenly, the assumption that reproduces the table's own life expectancy figures. The median (the age by which half of people your age have died) and the ages that 1 in 4 and 1 in 10 people reach come from the same survival curve.
Add a spouse and you also see the chance that at least one of you reaches 85, 90 and 95, each at your own age. That is 1 minus the chance that neither of you does: 1 minus (1 minus your chance) times (1 minus your spouse's chance). The expected years until the second death are your two life expectancies added together, less the expected years until the first death. Both treat your two lifetimes as independent of each other.
A worked example: a woman and a man, both 65
In the 2023 table, 87,399 of every 100,000 girls born are still alive at 65, and 79,084 of every 100,000 boys. A woman of 65 has 20.66 more years on average, so her life expectancy runs to about age 85.7. A man of 65 has 18.12 more years: to about age 83.1.
| Both aged 65 | Woman | Man | At least one of them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy, to about age | 85.7 | 83.1 | |
| Chance of reaching 85 | 57% | 45% | 76% |
| Chance of reaching 90 | 35% | 24% | 51% |
| Chance of reaching 95 | 14% | 8% | 21% |
| Chance of reaching 100 | 3.2% | 1.3% | 4.4% |
| Half have died by age | 86.6 | 83.8 | |
| 1 in 10 live past age | 96.5 | 94.2 |
Life expectancy is not the end of the range: 54% of 65-year-old women and 53% of 65-year-old men live past it. And a couple lasts longer than either person. There is a 51% chance that at least one of the two reaches 90, and on average the second death comes 24.5 years later, at about age 89.5. Household money has to last until the second death, not the first.
What life expectancy does and does not mean
Life expectancy is an average across everyone your age and sex. It is not the age you will die, and it is not the far end of the range: a little over half of 65-year-olds outlive it.
A period table applies one year's death rates, those of 2023, at every age for the rest of your life, so it does not build in future improvements. If death rates keep falling, as they generally have over time, people alive today will on average live longer than the table says. It also describes a whole population, and health, income and smoking change the odds a lot. Read the results as a planning baseline, not a personal forecast.
What this calculator leaves out
- Your own health, smoking and income. The table knows only your age and sex.
- Future changes in death rates, in either direction.
- Any link between two spouses' lifetimes. The couple figures assume they are independent.
- Months. Ages are whole years, as of December 31 this year.
- Ages past 119, where the table stops.
How long will I live?
No table can say for one person, but it gives the spread. Among 65-year-old women, half have died by 86.6 and 1 in 10 live past 96.5; among 65-year-old men, those ages are 83.8 and 94.2. Enter your own age and sex above to see yours.
What are the odds of living to 90?
In the 2023 table, a 65-year-old woman has a 35% chance of reaching 90 and a 65-year-old man a 24% chance. The older you are, the better your odds of reaching a given age, because you have already come through the years before it. A woman who is already 80 has a 47% chance of reaching 90, and a man of 80 a 38% chance.
How long should I plan my retirement for?
That depends on how much risk of outliving your money you will accept, which is your call. The table shows the trade-off. A plan that runs to life expectancy falls short for more than half of 65-year-olds. Planning to the age 1 in 4 people reach (92.2 for a woman of 65, 89.8 for a man) or the age 1 in 10 reach (96.5 and 94.2) covers more of the range, at the cost of spending less each year. For a couple, the lifetime that matters for shared money is the longer of the two.
What are the chances that one of a couple reaches 95?
For a woman and a man both aged 65: 21%, about 1 in 5. The chance that both of them reach 95 is only 1.2%. So a couple's money often has to last longer than either partner's life expectancy suggests.
