By

Peter Gratton

Published May 16, 2026

08:00 AM EDT

Key Takeaways

• Among the 3 in 10 employers willing to name an age, 65 was the median for when a job candidate becomes "too old to hire," according to a new Transamerica Institute survey.
• In the same survey, 44% of workers said they expect to retire after 65 or never.
• Federal law has prohibited employers with 20 or more workers from using age in hiring decisions since 1967.

Plenty of Americans plan to keep working past 65, but some employers are already saying they'll be too old, despite federal law.

That's according to a Transamerica Institute survey released Thursday, which asked at what age a job candidates become "too old to hire." Most said it depended on the person, but about 30% were willing to name age limits.1 Among the ages cited, the median was 65. Some went lower: 8% gave an age under 60. The survey collected responses from 1,900 employers and 6,153 workers at for-profit companies in fall 2025.

It's striking that employers would name an age at all—whether 50 or 100. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) makes it unlawful for an employer "to fail or refuse to hire... any individual... because of such individual's age."2 The law covers employers with 20 or more workers and protects everyone 40 and older.

"Employers proceed at their own risk when they single out employees based on age or suggest someone is 'too old to work,'" William Alvarado Rivera, senior vice president of litigation at AARP...

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