How much do I need to retire? The Retirement Living Standards
The Retirement Living Standards put a yearly cost on three levels of living in retirement: minimum, moderate and comfortable. Pensions UK publishes them, most recently on 3 June 2026.
Tax year 2026/27 · Figures as at 31 October 2026
The three levels
| Level | One person | Two people |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | £13,900 | £22,500 |
| Moderate | £32,700 | £45,400 |
| Comfortable | £45,400 | £62,700 |
Each figure is what a household spends in a year, not the income it needs. Income may be taxed, so the income that pays for it can be higher.
- Minimum covers every basic need, with some left over for fun: a holiday in the UK, and eating out about once a month.
- Moderate adds more security and flexibility: a holiday abroad each year, and a small car.
- Comfortable adds more freedom and some luxuries: more spent on holidays, more long weekends in the UK, and a car replaced sooner.
What they leave out
The figures assume the home is owned outright. Rent or mortgage payments come on top of them.
Beside the State Pension
The full rate of the new State Pension is £241.30 a week, from 6 April 2026.
In the apps
‘Is this enough?’ sets a plan’s own spending beside these three levels, today and in the year it retires, as a boat sailing for three islands. It is part of Landfall +.
How Landfall handles it
Spending moves a plan more than almost any other figure, and no statement hands it to you. One place to start is what you spend now, adjusted for what retirement changes.
Where the figures come from
- Full new State Pension, the law, read 7 September 2026
- Retirement Living Standards (Pensions UK), read 30 September 2026
Also read for this page
More in How much a retirement needs
- How likely am I to reach 80, 90 or 100?The chance of reaching each age from 65 to 100 for men and women in the UK, from the ONS’s official projections, and what they leave out.
- What is the average pension pot by age in Great Britain?What people of each age held in their pensions, from the Office for National Statistics, and who the figures leave out.
- How much is the State Pension?The full new State Pension this tax year, the qualifying years behind it, how to check your record, and what filling a gap costs and adds.
