The latest annuity industry statistics show a market climbing on rates and rotating into equity-linked products at the same time. Total U.S. annuity sales increased 7% to $464.1 billion in 2025, according to LIMRA’s final results, marking the fourth consecutive year of record retail annuity sales. First-quarter 2026 sales totaled $104.6 billion, the tenth straight quarter the market cleared the $100 billion mark, per LIMRA’s preliminary survey.
The structural story sits one layer down. Indexed products, including registered index-linked annuities and fixed indexed annuities, represented 45% of total sales in 2025, up from a 24% market share a decade ago. The annuity industry statistics below draw on LIMRA quarterly and full-year surveys, the ACLI Fact Book, NAIC adoption tracking, and Chicago Fed working papers covering sales, the RILA segment, FIA issuer rankings, ownership demographics, industry reserves, regulatory adoption of the NAIC best-interest standard, and SECURE 2.0 Act provisions.
Key Takeaways
- U.S. retail annuity sales totaled $464.1 billion in 2025, a 7% increase over the prior year and the fourth consecutive record year, per LIMRA.
- Fourth-quarter 2025 sales jumped 14% to $117.2 billion, representing the ninth consecutive quarter of $100 billion in sales.
- Indexed products (RILA + FIA) represented 45% of total sales in 2025, up from a 24% market share a decade ago.
- Q1 2026 sales were $104.6 billion, 2% below Q1 2025, the tenth straight quarter above the $100 billion mark.
- LIMRA projects RILA sales to exceed $85 billion in 2026, with continued growth through 2028.
- About 6.3 million U.S. households own at least one annuity, roughly 4.8% of all 131.3 million U.S. households.
- Reserves for individual annuity policies exceed 36% of the U.S. life and annuity insurance sector’s total reserves, per the ACLI Fact Book.
Editor’s Choice
- The 2025 final figure: $464.1 billion in U.S. retail annuity sales, the fourth consecutive record year.
- LIMRA’s 2026 forecast: annuity sales remain above $450 billion, supported by demographic demand and maturing contracts.
- Q1 2026 preliminary total: $104.6 billion in retail sales, the tenth $100 billion+ quarter in a row.
- Q1 2026 RILA sales: $21.2 billion, up 21% year over year.
- Full-year 2025 single premium immediate annuity (SPIA) sales: about $14.4 billion, up roughly 6%.
- Full-year 2025 deferred income annuity (DIA) sales: $4.8 billion, down 3%.
- Top issuer Athene reported $15 billion in fixed indexed annuity sales for 2025, its third consecutive year at number one.
Recent Developments
- March 2026: LIMRA released final 2025 retail annuity sales, confirming a $464.1 billion total and the fourth consecutive record year.
- April 2026: LIMRA preliminary Q1 2026 results landed at $104.6 billion, the tenth straight $100 billion+ quarter, with RILA sales up 21%.
- 2026 outlook release: LIMRA projects 2026 annuity sales to remain above $450 billion, with RILA sales projected to exceed $85 billion and continued growth through 2028.
- 2025 issuer rankings: Athene retained the number-one spot in LIMRA’s 2025 U.S. Retail Annuity Survey for the third consecutive year.
- April 2025: All 50 states completed adoption of the NAIC’s best-interest annuity rule, with New Jersey becoming the final state to approve the measure.
- January 1, 2025: The dollar limit on premiums for Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLACs) increased to $210,000 from $200,000 under SECURE 2.0.
US Annuity Sales by Year and Annual Growth
- U.S. retail annuity sales reached $464.1 billion in 2025, a 7% increase over the prior year, per LIMRA’s final results.
- LIMRA’s final 2025 results represent 93% of the total U.S. annuity market.
- 2025 marked the fourth consecutive year of record retail annuity sales, per LIMRA.
- LIMRA projects 2026 annuity sales to remain above $450 billion, supported by demographic demand, maturing contracts, new product development, and technology-driven efficiencies.
| Year | Total US Retail Annuity Sales | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | record (prior cycle) | n/a |
| 2023 | record-year level | record |
| 2024 | record-year level | record |
| 2025 | $464.1 billion | +7% |
| 2026 (forecast) | above $450 billion | LIMRA outlook |
Source: LIMRA U.S. Individual Annuity Sales Survey, 2026 LIMRA Outlook release
Registered Index-Linked Annuity (RILA) Sales
- Q1 2026 RILA sales jumped 21% year over year to $21.2 billion, per LIMRA’s preliminary survey.
- LIMRA projects RILA sales to exceed $85 billion in 2026, with continued growth through 2028.
- RILA and fixed indexed annuity products together represented 45% of total sales in 2025, compared with a 24% market share a decade ago.
- RILA pulls share from both traditional-VA and FRD.
| RILA Metric | Value | Reporting Window |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 RILA sales | $21.2 billion | Q1 2026 LIMRA preliminary |
| Q1 2026 YoY change | +21% | compared with Q1 2025 |
| Indexed products’ share of total | 42% (Q1 2026), 45% (2025) | LIMRA survey |
| 2026 LIMRA forecast | exceed $85 billion | full-year 2026 |
Source: LIMRA Q1 2026 release and 2026 outlook
Quarterly Sales: The $100 Billion Streak
- Fourth-quarter 2025 sales jumped 14% to $117.2 billion, representing the ninth consecutive quarter of $100 billion in sales.
- Q1 2026 sales totaled $104.6 billion, 2% below Q1 2025, marking the tenth straight quarter the market cleared the $100 billion mark.
- Indexed products represented 42% of all annuity sales in Q1 2026, the largest single product category and a sign that the indexed-product migration is sustaining.
- Adding LIMRA’s two most recent reported quarters, Q4 2025 ($117.2 billion) and Q1 2026 ($104.6 billion), produces a combined trailing six-month retail annuity sales total.
- The dip is the first move against the streak in 10 quarters.
Fixed Indexed Annuity (FIA) Sales
- Indexed products, including RILAs and fixed indexed annuities, represented 45% of total sales in 2025, up from a 24% market share a decade ago.
- Athene reported $15 billion in fixed indexed annuity sales for 2025, ranking number one in LIMRA’s 2025 U.S. Retail Annuity Survey.
- The top FIA sellers in 2025 were Athene, Allianz Life, Corebridge Financial, and the Sammons Financial Group (parent of Midland National and North American).
- The combined RILA-plus-FIA share rose from a 24% market share a decade ago to 45% of total sales in 2025, a meaningful gain in share over the decade.
- Indexed products now sit at parity with fixed-rate deferred.
| Top FIA Issuer 2025 | Reported Sales | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Athene | $15 billion | #1 for the third consecutive year |
| Allianz Life | n/a (top-tier ranking) | LIMRA top-tier participant |
| Corebridge Financial | n/a (top-tier ranking) | LIMRA top-tier participant |
| Sammons Financial Group | n/a (top-tier ranking) | parent of Midland National + North American |
Source: LIMRA 2025 U.S. Retail Annuity Survey participant rankings
Traditional Variable Annuity Sales
- Q1 2026 traditional variable annuity sales were up 9% to $16.1 billion, per LIMRA’s preliminary survey.
- Indexed products’ share of total annuity sales rose from 24% a decade ago to 45% in 2025, per LIMRA.
- Traditional VAs grow from a base below their earlier peak.
| Traditional VA Metric | Q1 2026 | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | $16.1 billion | +9% |
| Share of total Q1 2026 ($104.6 billion) | ~15% | LIMRA preliminary |
Source: LIMRA Q1 2026 preliminary release
Fixed-Rate Deferred Annuity Contract
- Total fixed-rate deferred annuity sales fell 16% to $34 billion in Q1 2026, per LIMRA.
- LIMRA attributed the drop to clients focusing on more upside-based products like RILAs and fixed indexed annuities to take advantage of robust equity markets.
- Fixed-rate deferred sales of $34 billion in Q1 2026 sat below the indexed-products share of 42% of $104.6 billion total sales, the second-largest single category.
- The drop is the cleanest demand-rotation signal in the data.
| Fixed-Rate Deferred Metric | Q1 2026 | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | $34 billion | -16% |
| Share of Q1 2026 total | second-largest single category | indexed products lead at 42% |
Source: LIMRA Q1 2026 preliminary release
Income Annuity Sales: SPIA and DIA
- Single premium immediate annuity (SPIA) sales increased 23% in Q4 2025 to $3.9 billion, per LIMRA.
- Full-year 2025 SPIA sales ticked up roughly 6% to $14.4 billion.
- Deferred income annuity (DIA) sales jumped 22% to $1.4 billion in Q4 2025.
- Full-year 2025 DIA product sales fell 3% to $4.8 billion.
- Buyers prefer immediate income.
Top US Annuity Issuers
- Athene ranked number one in LIMRA’s 2025 U.S. Retail Annuity Survey for the third consecutive year.
- Athene reported $15 billion in fixed indexed annuity sales for 2025, ranking number one in LIMRA’s 2025 U.S. Retail Annuity Survey.
- The top FIA sellers in 2025 were Athene, Allianz Life, Corebridge Financial, and the Sammons Financial Group, the parent of Midland National and North American.
- Athene’s three-peat is unusual.
| Top US Annuity Issuer 2025 | Headline Result | Ranking Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Athene | $15 billion FIA sales | #1 overall, third year |
| Allianz Life | top-tier participant | LIMRA participant ranking |
| Corebridge Financial | top-tier participant | LIMRA participant ranking |
| Sammons Financial Group | top-tier participant | parent of Midland National + North American |
Source: LIMRA 2025 U.S. Retail Annuity Survey, Athene press release
Annuity Ownership Demographics
- About 6.3 million U.S. households own at least one annuity, representing roughly 4.8% of all 131.3 million U.S. households, per a 2024 analysis conducted on behalf of the DOL Employee Benefits Security Administration.
- Most individual annuity owners are retired (65%), and although their average age is 70, the average age at which owners purchased their first annuity was 51.
- Individual annuity owners are almost evenly split between females (51%) and males (49%).
- Americans who own annuities have moderate incomes, with a median annual household income of $64,000, and 80% have total annual household incomes below $100,000.
- Two-thirds of annuity-owning households are age 65 or older.
- A thin slice of households holds a product whose reserves dominate life-insurer balance sheets.
Annuity Assets Under Management and Industry Reserves
- U.S. life insurers held $9.3 trillion in total assets in 2024, per the American Council of Life Insurers Fact Book.
- Annuities comprised almost two-thirds of the industry’s liability reserves in 2024, per ACLI.
- Reserves for individual annuity policies exceed 36% of the U.S. life and annuity insurance sector’s total reserves.
- U.S. life insurers held approximately $3 trillion in annuity-related reserves under management across product types when including general account and separate account holdings.
| US Life Insurer Balance Sheet (2024) | Value |
|---|---|
| Total life insurer assets | $9.3 trillion |
| Annuity share of industry liability reserves | almost two-thirds |
| Individual annuity reserves: share of total reserves | more than 36% |
| Annuity-related reserves (Chicago Fed estimate) | approximately $3 trillion |
Source: ACLI 2025 Life Insurers Fact Book, Chicago Fed Working Paper 2025-09
NAIC Best Interest Standard Adoption
- In 2020, the NAIC adopted revisions to its Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation (Model #275) that incorporate a best-interest standard of care, requiring producers to put the consumer’s interest ahead of their own.
- The NAIC best-interest standard requires four obligations: care, disclosure, conflict of interest, and documentation.
- All 50 states have adopted the NAIC’s best-interest annuity rule, with New Jersey becoming the final state to approve the measure as of April 2025.
| NAIC Best Interest Adoption Milestone | Year |
|---|---|
| NAIC revised Model #275 adopted | 2020 |
| First-wave state adoptions | 2020-2021 |
| Majority of states adopted | 2022-2023 |
| All 50 states complete (New Jersey final) | April 2025 |
Source: NAIC Annuity Suitability and Best Interest Standard page
SECURE 2.0 Act Annuity Provisions
- Under SECURE 2.0, the dollar limit on premiums for Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLACs) increased to $210,000 from $200,000 as of January 1, 2025.
- The law eliminated a previous requirement that limited QLAC premiums to 25% of an individual’s retirement account balance.
- SECURE 2.0 eliminates certain barriers affecting the availability of lifetime annuities in qualified plans and IRAs, effective beginning in calendar year 2023.
- QLACs are deferred income annuities purchased with retirement funds, typically held in an IRA or 401(k), that begin payments on or before age 85.
| SECURE 2.0 Annuity Provision | Detail |
|---|---|
| QLAC premium limit | $210,000 (effective January 1, 2025) |
| Previous QLAC premium limit | $200,000 |
| 25%-of-balance rule | eliminated |
| QLAC payment start age | on or before age 85 |
| Lifetime-income safe harbor | effective from 2023 |
Source: SECURE 2.0 Act statutory text (Public Law 117-328, Division T)
Pre-Retiree Demand Signal
- For the first time, a majority of pre-retiree workers (51%) said they would consider converting a portion of their assets into a lifetime-guaranteed annuity in retirement, per LIMRA research.
- Pre-retirees’ interest remained high in 2023, with 52% willing to consider annuities.
- Only about 11% to 12% of retirement-age households currently own an annuity, suggesting significant potential for growth as more pre-retirees convert interest into ownership.
- The gap between pre-retiree interest (about 52%) and current retirement-age ownership (about 11-12%) frames the conversion runway for the next decade.
State Guaranty Association Protections
- Annuities are not guaranteed by any bank or credit union and are not insured by the FDIC or any other federal government agency, as all insurance products are regulated at the state rather than the federal level.
- Fixed annuities are backed by State Guaranty Associations, which typically provide coverage of up to $250,000 in benefits per owner, depending on the state.
- While annuity companies can become insolvent, it is quite rare for highly rated medium- to large-sized insurance companies to fail.
- The practical filter is the issuing insurer’s financial-strength rating.
| State Guaranty Protection Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Typical per-owner coverage | up to $250,000 |
| Variation by state | state-by-state limits apply |
| Federal coverage | none (no FDIC) |
| Funding mechanism | post-insolvency assessment of surviving insurers |
Source: NOLHGA aggregation, state insurance regulators
By the numbers: The 2025 final figure of $464.1 billion plus Q1 2026’s preliminary $104.6 billion show retail annuity sales running at multi-record-year scale, even as the most recent quarter softened by 2% year over year against a tough Q1 2025 comparison base.
Why it matters: The product reaches roughly 4.8% of US households (about 6.3 million of 131.3 million) yet carries reserves above 36% of US life-insurer total reserves, the clearest evidence of the institutional weight behind a retail product with a narrow buyer base.
Common Questions
What is a registered index-linked annuity?
A registered index-linked annuity, or RILA, tracks a market index with a buffer or floor against losses. RILAs are registered as securities. LIMRA reported Q1 2026 RILA sales of $21.2 billion, up 21% year over year.
Why are fixed-rate deferred annuity sales falling?
LIMRA attributes the Q1 2026 fixed-rate deferred decline of 16% to clients rotating into upside-based products like RILAs and fixed indexed annuities as equity markets rallied. The crediting-rate edge narrowed, so marginal buyers picked equity-linked structures instead.
What is the QLAC premium limit in 2026?
Under SECURE 2.0, the dollar limit on premiums paid for Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLACs) stands at $210,000 as of January 1, 2025, having increased from $200,000. The 25%-of-balance ceiling was also eliminated, the bigger change for buyers with larger qualified balances.
Are annuities safe?
Fixed annuities are backed by State Guaranty Associations that typically provide coverage of up to $250,000 in benefits per owner, depending on the state. The product is not FDIC-insured; principal protection rests on the insurer’s balance sheet first and the state guaranty second, so the practical filter is insurer financial-strength rating.
Conclusion
The U.S. annuity industry statistics close 2025 with $464.1 billion in retail sales, a fourth consecutive record year, and indexed products at 45% of total sales versus a 24% share a decade ago. Q1 2026 preliminary results of $104.6 billion confirm the tenth straight $100 billion+ quarter despite a 2% YoY dip. Product-mix shift, not the headline total, is the structural story.
LIMRA’s 2026 outlook holds annuity sales above $450 billion, with RILA sales projected to exceed $85 billion and growth through 2028. Two watch items: fixed-rate-deferred rotation and pre-retiree conversion.
