Average 401(k) Balance by Age in 2026: How Do You Compare?

“How does my 401(k) compare to other people my age?” is one of the most common, and most anxiety-inducing, retirement questions. This page answers it with the actual average and median 401(k) balance by age, taken directly from Vanguard’s How America Saves 2026 report (covering year-end 2025 data across about 4.6 million participant accounts). We show both the average and the median, because the two tell very different stories, and explain which one you should actually measure yourself against.

401(k) Balances at a Glance

Across all Vanguard participants at year-end 2025, the numbers were:

1. Average & Median 401(k) Balance by Age

Here is the full breakdown by age band. The median (the midpoint saver) is the more realistic yardstick for most people; the average is pulled far higher by a small number of very large accounts.

2. Why the Average Beats the Median

Notice the gap: across all participants the average is $167,970 but the median is just $44,115, nearly a fourfold difference. That’s not a contradiction; it’s math. A relatively small number of savers with very large balances (long tenure, high incomes, decades of compounding) drag the average upward, while the median, the person exactly in the middle, stays far lower.

The same pattern holds at every age. At 55–64, for example, the average balance ($305,006) is nearly triple the median ($107,269). Balances also roughly plateau after 55, as people begin drawing down or rolling funds into IRAs.

Vanguard puts numbers on the skew: the average sits at about the 75th percentile, meaning roughly three in four participants have less than the average. One in four had under $10,000, while 35% had more than $100,000 and 18% had $250,000 or more. Both figures hit records in 2025, with the average up 13% and the median up 16% from 2024, helped by an average one-year participant return of 19.3%.

3. Retirement Savings by Age (All Accounts)

A 401(k) is only one bucket. The broader measure is the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, which counts every retirement account a family holds: 401(k)s, 403(b)s, thrift savings plans, IRAs and Keoghs. It is a different population from the Vanguard figures above, it counts families rather than participant accounts, and the numbers are correspondingly different.

We cover that data in full, including the medians that include families with nothing saved at all, on our guide to average retirement savings by age.

4. How Much Should You Have by Age?

What people have isn’t the same as what they need. A widely used rule of thumb comes from Fidelity, which frames targets as multiples of your salary rather than flat dollar amounts:

So someone earning $60,000 would aim for roughly $60,000 saved by 30, $180,000 by 40, and $360,000 by 50. These are guideposts, not guarantees, your real number depends on your spending, other income (Social Security, pensions, IRAs), and when you plan to retire. Model your own trajectory with the 401(k) Calculator, or project a full financial-independence timeline with the FIRE Calculator.

5. How to Catch Up if You're Behind

If your balance trails the median for your age, the levers that matter most are boringly effective:

• Capture the full employer match first. (Here is what the typical employer match is.) It’s an immediate, guaranteed return, leaving it on the table is the costliest mistake in retirement saving.
• Raise your savings rate by 1% a year. In 2025, 45% of Vanguard participants increased their deferral rate, and 71% of plans with automatic enrollment also raise contributions automatically each year. Small, painless steps compound.
• Use catch-up contributions after 50. For 2026 the employee limit is $24,500, plus an $8,000 catch-up from age 50 ($32,500 total). Savers aged 60 to 63 get a larger $11,250 catch-up ($35,750 total). Source: IRS, Notice 2025-67.
• Keep costs and allocation sensible, low-fee index options and an age-appropriate stock/bond mix. See Roth 401(k) vs. Roth IRA and where to start with a brokerage or IRA.

6. Sources & Methodology

Balance figures are taken directly from the primary report, not a secondary summary. Figures reflect the most recent releases as of September 2026.

• Vanguard, How America Saves 2026: average and median account balances by age (Figure 53), distribution and growth (Figures 50-51), and savings behaviour, based on Vanguard defined-contribution recordkeeping data for year-end 2025 (about 4.6 million participant accounts).
• Federal Reserve, 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances: retirement account ownership and balances by age of family head (Table 6).
• Fidelity: the salary-multiple savings guideposts (1×–10×).
• IRS: 2026 401(k) contribution and catch-up limits (Notice 2025-67).

Note: these are 401(k)/defined-contribution balances only. They exclude IRAs, pensions, taxable savings, and home equity, so they understate total retirement wealth, for the fuller picture, see average net worth by age.

Cite This Page

Journalists, educators, and bloggers are welcome to cite these statistics. Please link back so readers can reach the primary Vanguard data and methodology.

“Average 401(k) Balance by Age in 2026: How Do You Compare?” Wealthy Pot, 2026. https://wealthypot.com/average-401k-balance-by-age/

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