How Many Retirees Still Have a Mortgage? (Federal Reserve Data)

76 out of 100 households aged 65 to 74 own the home they live in. Far fewer have made the last payment, and fewer still owe nothing to anyone. I counted them in the Federal Reserve's raw survey file, then ran the same count on every survey back to 1989. In this video: • How many households 65 to 74 own outright, how many are still paying, how many rent • What the ones still paying owe ($110,000 typical) and pay ($960 a month) • How the last mortgage payment moved later in life, 1989 to 2022 • The monthly check a paid-off house replaces ($750 typical rent) • What the house is worth, and how many are "house rich, cash poor" • Owners vs. renters: typical net worth of $748,200 vs. $9,570 • How many own the house outright and owe nothing at all • 4 ways a house turns into money: selling (the IRS home-sale rule), a home equity loan, the federal reverse mortgage (HECM) rules and costs, and renting out a room CHAPTERS 0:00 How many retirees have a paid-off house? 1:18 Picture 100 households on one street 1:55 The ones still paying 2:49 Does the mortgage ever go away? 3:23 1989 vs. today 5:06 The rent check that disappears 6:09 What the house is worth 8:00 Owners vs. renters: the widest gap 10:03 How many owe nothing at all? 11:37 4 ways a house turns into money 12:55 Reverse mortgage: just the rules 14:34 The whole street in one picture SOURCES Federal Reserve, Survey of Consumer Finances 2022 (every percentage and median in this video was counted from the public summary extract file): https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm Data file used: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/files/scfp2022excel.zip Earlier surveys, 1989 to 2019, same file format: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/files/scfp1989excel.zip (change the year) IRS Topic 701, sale of your home ($250,000 / $500,000 exclusion): https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc701 CFPB, reverse mortgages (who qualifies, when it's repaid): https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/reverse-mortgages/ HUD Mortgagee Letter 2017-12 (HECM mortgage insurance: 2% upfront, 0.5% a year): https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/17-12ml.pdf 2026 HECM limit, $1,249,125 (FHA Mortgagee Letter 2025-22): https://www.nrmlaonline.org/2025/12/11/13072 How I counted it: households whose head is 65 to 74 (other age groups where the video says so), weighted with the survey's own weights. "Paid off" means the home they live in has no mortgage and no home equity line on it. "Still paying" means any loan on the home. "Renters" are households that don't own their home; rent figures are from those who pay rent. "Owe nothing at all" means no debt of any kind in the survey: no mortgage, no home equity line, no credit card balance after the last bill, no car, student or other loans. Amounts are in 2022 dollars; older surveys use the Fed's own inflation adjustment. Before using the file, I checked it against the Fed's published figures (76.1% own a home, $252,000 median home equity, $410,000 median net worth), and they matched. The survey can't say why the numbers moved, so the video doesn't either. This channel is educational only and is not financial, tax, legal or investment advice. The reverse mortgage section only summarizes the federal program's rules and costs; check the current rules before any decision. Federal rules only; your state may differ. Old Man Miller is a fictional animated narrator, not a financial advisor. Research and script by the channel's creator. Next: every dollar retirees have saved, not just the 401(k). #retirement #homeownership #reversemortgage