Retirement Lifestyle: What Retirees Actually Do, Spend, and Pay in Tax (2026 Data)

A retirement lifestyle is measured first in hours, not dollars: Americans 65 and over average more than seven hours of leisure a day, and how that time gets used shapes both spending and taxes.

A typical U.S. retirement lifestyle centers on leisure, home, and family. In 2025, adults 65 and over averaged 7.11 hours a day of leisure, including 4.30 hours of TV, while 19.1 percent still worked or looked for work. Average spending is higher in the early, active years and runs about 15 percent lower after age 75.

By Craig Wear, CFP® | Last reviewed: October 12, 2026

What is a retirement lifestyle?

A retirement lifestyle is the pattern of how time, money, and energy get used once full-time work ends. It covers daily routine, where and how a household lives, whether paid work continues, and how much travel, volunteering, and family time fit in.

Most retirements fall into a few broad types. A full retirement ends paid work entirely. A phased or semi-retirement keeps part-time or seasonal work for income, structure, or both. An encore career moves into a different field, sometimes paid, sometimes not.

Turning lifestyle wishes into measurable, dated targets is covered in the retirement goals guide, and the mechanics of income and key ages in how retirement works. This guide focuses on what retirees actually do, based on federal survey data.

What do retirees actually do all day?

Retirees spend most of the hours that work used to fill on leisure, with household tasks a distant second, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey for 2025, released June 25, 2026.

In ATUS Table 3, people ages 65 to 74 averaged 6.90 hours of leisure and sports a day, and those 75 and over averaged 7.39 hours. Personal care, mostly sleep, rose from 9.63 to 9.87 hours. Household activities held steady at about 2.7 hours in both groups, well above the 1.99 hour average for everyone 15 and older.

The leisure total hides a strong tilt toward screens, as a comparison with people 55 to 64 shows.

Source: BLS, Average hours per day spent in selected leisure and sports activities by age, 2025.

Two findings stand out. About two-thirds of the extra leisure time goes to TV (1.24 of 1.90 hours), and socializing actually dips slightly after 65 even though free time grows. Retirees who want more social contact, travel, or exercise than the average usually have to schedule it on purpose. Concerns about the transition itself are addressed in planning responses to retirement anxiety.

How many people keep working in retirement?

Nearly one in five Americans 65 and older is still in the labor force. BLS reports a 2025 participation rate of 19.1 percent for that age group, based on an 11-month average because October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown.

Work fades with age rather than stopping at a single birthday. Among men, participation was 38.1 percent at ages 65 to 69, 22.3 percent at 70 to 74, and 11.1 percent at 75 and older. Among women the same figures were 28.9, 15.7, and 6.6 percent. The time-use data agree: work averaged 1.14 hours a day at ages 65 to 74 and 0.26 hours at 75 and over.

Part-time work interacts with Social Security for anyone who claims before full retirement age. In 2026 the retirement earnings test withholds $1 of benefits for every $2 earned above $24,480, and $1 for every $3 above $65,160 in the year full retirement age is reached. The details, including how withheld benefits are credited back, are in the 2026 earnings test guide.

What are the go-go, slow-go, and no-go years?

The go-go, slow-go, and no-go years are planner shorthand for an active early retirement, a slower middle stretch, and a later stage shaped mostly by health. They are not official categories, and the ages vary widely from person to person, but federal spending data by age traces a similar arc.

The BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys for 2024 (the latest annual release) break spending out by the age of the household’s reference person. Transportation and dining out fall sharply with age, while healthcare and charitable giving rise.

Source: BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys, Table 1300, age of reference person, 2024. Percent changes are rounded calculations from the published means.

One common misconception is that these figures show the same households cutting back as they age. They do not. The survey compares different households at a single point in time, and the 75 and older group is smaller: 1.6 people per household versus 1.9. Divided per person, spending in the two groups is roughly similar, which suggests part of the drop reflects widowhood and smaller households rather than lower needs. How these averages translate into an actual spending plan, including essential versus discretionary lines, is covered in the retirement budget guide.

How do housing choices shape a retirement lifestyle?

Housing is the largest single expense in retirement, and it barely declines after 65. In the 2024 CE data it absorbed about 34 percent of spending at ages 65 to 74 and about 39 percent at 75 and older, even though many retirees no longer carry a mortgage.

Among households headed by someone 65 or older, 78 percent own their home and 54 percent own it free and clear, according to the same BLS table. A paid-off mortgage does not end housing costs: property taxes averaged $3,003 and maintenance, repairs, and insurance $3,558 at ages 65 to 74.

Downsizing, relocating near family, or moving to a lower-tax state are the big housing decisions. For a primary residence owned and lived in for at least two of the five years before sale, the IRS lets sellers exclude up to $250,000 of gain, or $500,000 on a joint return. State income tax treatment of retirement income varies more than many movers expect; the 2026 state-by-state guide compares the rules.

Where do travel, volunteering, and giving fit in?

Travel concentrates in the early, healthier years, while volunteering and giving tend to persist or grow. In the CE data, spending on other lodging, which includes hotels on out-of-town trips, falls from $1,533 at ages 65 to 74 to $1,200 at 75 and older, gasoline from $2,144 to $1,322, and vehicle purchases from $4,539 to $2,039, consistent with fewer miles and fewer trips.

Time spent on organizational, civic, and religious activities, which includes formal volunteering, averaged 0.46 hours a day at ages 65 to 74 and 0.42 hours at 75 and over in ATUS 2025, above the 0.28 hour average for all adults. Cash contributions to people and organizations outside the household climbed from $2,921 to $3,497 between those age groups.

For charitably inclined retirees, the tax code offers a specific tool. IRA owners age 70½ or older can give up to $111,000 in 2026 directly to charity as a qualified charitable distribution, which is excluded from income and can count toward a required minimum distribution. The rules are covered in the 2026 QCD guide.

How does health change the retirement lifestyle?

Health is the main force that moves a retiree from one phase to the next. Personal care time rises with age, and healthcare climbs from about 11.8 percent of spending at ages 65 to 74 to about 14.2 percent at 75 and older in the CE data.

Medicare sets the baseline. For 2026 the standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month with a $283 annual deductible. Higher-income enrollees pay an income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) starting above $109,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single filers and $218,000 for joint filers, generally based on the tax return from two years earlier; the tiers are in the 2026 IRMAA brackets guide.

The largest late-life wildcard is long-term care, which ordinary Medicare coverage generally does not pay for when the need is custodial. Costs and their tax treatment are covered in long-term care costs and taxes.

How do lifestyle choices map to costs and taxes?

Every lifestyle choice is funded from some account, and the account determines the tax result. The same trip or car can add nothing to taxable income or set off a chain reaction, depending on whether it comes from a traditional IRA, a Roth IRA, or a taxable account.

Worked example (hypothetical, 2026 rules). A married couple, both 67, receives $48,000 a year of Social Security and withdraws $40,000 from a traditional IRA. Their provisional income is $64,000: the $40,000 withdrawal plus $24,000 (half of benefits). Using the IRS Publication 915 worksheet, $23,000 of their Social Security is taxable (85 percent of the $20,000 above $44,000, plus $6,000).

Now suppose they take an extra $20,000 from the IRA for a go-go year trip. Provisional income rises to $84,000, and taxable Social Security rises to $40,000. Their income subject to tax goes up by $37,000, not $20,000, because each added IRA dollar in this range also makes 85 cents of benefits taxable. This is the effect described in the Social Security tax torpedo guide. If the same $20,000 came from a qualified Roth distribution, provisional income would stay at $64,000.

That interaction is why the active early years matter for tax planning as well as lifestyle. Retirees with a few lower-income years before Social Security and RMDs often consider using them for partial Roth conversions, building a tax-free pool for later lifestyle spending; the trade-offs are explained in Roth conversions in a low-income year. A financial professional can model whether that approach fits a specific household.

Frequently asked questions

This article is for educational purposes only and is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional about your specific situation.