US annuity sales rose 6% to $461.3 billion in 2025, a fourth consecutive record, as a wave of retiring baby boomers and lingering fears about outliving savings propelled the annuity market to levels that would have seemed improbable half a decade ago.
LIMRA, the industry research group that tracks the figures, said fourth-quarter sales climbed 12% to $114.4 billion, the ninth straight quarter above $100 billion.
The market has nearly doubled in five years, with indexed products - registered index-linked and fixed indexed annuities – now representing 45% of total sales, up from 24% a decade ago, LIMRA senior vice president Bryan Hodgens (pictured above) noted.
Fixed-rate deferred annuities led the field at $160.6 billion, followed by fixed indexed annuities at a record $128.2 billion. Registered index-linked annuities, or RILAs, reached $79.6 billion after a 20% jump, having grown roughly tenfold over the past decade. LIMRA projects they will surpass $85 billion in 2026.
Hodgens pointed to demographic forces as the primary long-term engine, saying the market is "in the middle of Peak65, when more than 4 million Americans are entering retirement each year, often with fewer protected lifetime income sources available."
Research from the Alliance for Lifetime Income, published last year, found that 51% of Americans aged 61 to 65 had less than $100,000 in assets, while a separate LIMRA study earlier in 2025 showed 54% of baby boomers and Gen X investors worry about outliving their savings - up six points from 2024.
The interest rate cycle played a role as well: Hodgens said in a prior interview that rising rates made fixed annuities "an attractive investment," and LIMRA noted earlier in 2025 that crediting rates were outpacing CD rates by nearly 200 basis points on average.
Among US annuity writers, the results were uneven. Lincoln Financial Group reported fourth-quarter annuity sales of $4.9 billion, up 33% year over year, though net income available to shareholders fell to $745 million from $1.68 billion. "Over the past two years, we have built important infrastructure to support this business," said CEO Ellen Cooper.
Prudential Financial posted fourth-quarter net income of $905 million, swinging from a net loss of $57 million a year earlier, citing annuities as a driver. The company describes its FlexGuard RILA suite as having reached $20 billion in cumulative sales since launching in 2020, and ranked third in US annuity RILA sales through mid-2025 based on LIMRA data.
Corebridge Financial, the third-largest overall annuity writer by LIMRA's mid-year rankings, reported fourth-quarter net income of $814 million. CEO Marc Costantini said full-year sales rose 4% to a record $42 billion, adding that the company aims to become a top-five RILA player.
Brighthouse Financial, subject to a pending $4.1 billion acquisition by private equity firm Aquarian Capital LLC, posted fourth-quarter net income of $112 million, down from $646 million. CNO Financial CEO Gary Bhojwani highlighted "record annuity collected premiums," up 9% for the full year, with in-force account values exceeding $13 billion.
Still, the pace may not hold. LIMRA expects fixed-rate deferred US annuity sales to slip below 2025 levels as what it describes as "short-duration appeal fades in conjunction with lower interest rates." Erik Miller, senior director at AM Best, struck a similar note of caution, saying that while top-line growth has been strong, "we expect that to moderate in the medium term."
