Regional individuals nearing retirement age might have more difficulty making ends meet than other Pennsylvania residents.
Statistics show households in Luzerne, Schuylkill and Carbon counties bring in less income than the state average. The counties' average retirement and Social Security incomes also are lower than the state's.
The only exception is Social Security income for Carbon County, which is approximately $500 more than the state's mean average, according to figures from the U.S. Census.
According to data:
- Median household income for Luzerne County is $43,296 or approximately 16.2 percent less than the state average of $51,651, according to the census. Schuylkill County's median income is $44,150, or 14.6 percent less than the state average and Carbon County's is $49,056, or 5.1 percent less than the state.
- Mean Social Security income for Luzerne County is $15,476, or approximately 7 percent less than the state's mean of $16,639. The mean for Schuylkill County - at $15,649 - is lower than the state by about 6 percent, but Carbon County's is higher at $17,136, census data shows.
- Mean retirement income for Pennsylvania is $18,771. It is 16.8 percent less in Luzerne County, where the mean is $15,633; Schuylkill County is 19.6 percent less at $15,102, and Carbon County is 11.2 percent less at $16,675, according to the census.
A historically severe recession cut average U.S. family net worth by 40 percent from 2007 to 2010, according to the Federal Reserve.
The prospects frighten many people who may face financial uncertainty in the senior stage of their lives.
"People are getting to the point where they are nearing retirement and they are so scared of what they might find out, they just ignore it," said Lynn Evans, president of Northeastern Financial Consultants Inc., Clarks Summit. "They don't want to find out."
The route to a more financially sound retirement, for many, probably is putting in more time on the job.
"It's so much easier to work a couple extra years now than to find out in your 70s that you don't have enough money and try to re-enter the workforce," said Jack Vanderhei, an executive at the Employee Benefits Research Institute, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that analyzes retirement and economic security issues.
"Working longer does a lot of good things," said Anthony Webb., Ph.D., an economist at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. "It gives you more years to contribute to your 401(k) and it increases your Social Security benefits."
People who begin collecting Social Security at age 62 get 73 percent of what they would receive at full retirement age.
"For people who retire at 62, virtually nobody can maintain their pre-retirement standard of living," Webb said. "If people retire at 70, most of them can."
But as the nation transitioned over the last generation from defined-benefit pension plans to mostly defined-contribution models, many people never saved adequately.
The average U.S. household headed by people in the 55-to-64 age group has an IRA or 401(k) valued at about $120,000, Webb said.
"That's not going to get them to the lifestyle they dreamed about," he said.
Many middle- and upper-income people face the prospect of living on 40 percent to 45 percent of preretirement income, Evans said.
"It's a huge haircut when you retire," she said. "For them, the picture is not pretty."
Experts caution against planning to rely on Social Security as a sole source of retirement income.
"Social Security is a very modest program. It was never meant to be the pension system for people," said Mark Price, an economist at the Keystone Research Center, a progressive think tank in Harrisburg.
"Unfortunately for many people, there has been no retirement planning," Vanderhei said. "It's going to be more difficult to have a decent standard of living if you plan just to live off Social Security."
The region has a high proportion of impoverished seniors who continue to fall further behind financially as their living expenses rise, said Teri Ooms, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, a regional think tank financed by higher education.
"We see more people at the low end and they tend to use more public services and systems," she said. "There is a strain on a variety of sectors. It makes it more difficult for local organizations to provide services to meet the demand."
For people approaching retirement age who invest in a retirement account, Evans said, the prospects could be better than they anticipate.
"People have to get themselves outside the story that you have to have this big, achievable number," she said. "You cannot plan on this with a straight line. You have to give yourself a range to work with. An absolute number is crazy."
Staff writer Jill Whalen contributed to this story.