Average Retirement Savings by Age: The Honest Numbers
Among US families that hold a retirement account, the median balance is $106,000 and the average is $451,100, according to the Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances. Those two numbers describe the same country and disagree by a factor of more than four, which tells you most of what you need to know about using an average here. And both of them leave out the 45.1% of families who have no retirement account at all. Count everyone, and the median American family has about $5,200 in retirement accounts. This page gives every version of the number, by age, and says plainly which one describes a normal household.
Table of Contents
The Short Answer
- $106,000 is the median retirement account balance among families that have one; $451,100 is the average. Federal Reserve, 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances.
- Only 54.9% of US families hold a retirement account of any kind.
- Counting every family, including those with nothing, the median falls to about $5,200.
- Among families aged 55 to 64 who have an account, the median is $239,000 and the average is $670,200. About 74% of them hold less than that average.
- Under 35 and at 65 or older, the median family has $0, because fewer than half of families in those bands own an account.
- These are 2025 figures in 2025 dollars, from the survey wave the Federal Reserve published in October 2026, the most recent available.
What This Page Measures
There are two honest ways to answer "how much do people have saved for retirement," and they produce different numbers because they count different things. Getting the two confused is the single most common error in coverage of this topic.
| This page | Average 401(k) balance by age | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Federal Reserve, Survey of Consumer Finances | Vanguard, How America Saves |
| What is counted | Every retirement account a family holds: 401(k)s, 403(b)s, thrift savings plans, IRAs and Keoghs | One 401(k)-type account at one recordkeeper |
| Who is counted | All US families, nationally representative | People already enrolled in a Vanguard plan |
| Unit | A family, so a couple's two accounts add together | A participant account |
| Median | $106,000 among families holding an account | $44,115 |
The distinction matters in a practical way. A recordkeeper can only see people who already have an account with it, so its numbers answer "among savers, how much has accumulated." The Federal Reserve draws a sample of all US families, so its numbers can also answer "how many families have nothing," which turns out to be the more important question. If you specifically want the 401(k) view, the sister page on average 401(k) balance by age covers it in full.
What the Fed counts as a retirement account. In its own words, the category covers "individual retirement accounts, Keogh accounts, and certain employer-sponsored accounts, such as 401(k), 403(b), and thrift savings accounts from current or past jobs." What it does not count is a traditional defined benefit pension, which has no account balance, nor Social Security, nor home equity, nor ordinary savings. So these figures understate total retirement resources for anyone with a pension, and you should read them as "money in retirement accounts," not "money for retirement."
Retirement Savings by Age
Here is the published table. Read the share column first, because it changes what the other two mean: the median and average are calculated only across families that actually hold an account.
| Age of reference person | Share with a retirement account | Median balance | Average balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 48.8% | $21,000 | $48,400 |
| 35–44 | 59.6% | $61,200 | $182,400 |
| 45–54 | 63.0% | $133,000 | $415,800 |
| 55–64 | 63.1% | $239,000 | $670,200 |
| 65–74 | 49.0% | $257,000 | $767,600 |
| 75 or more | 44.6% | $257,000 | $798,700 |
| All families | 54.9% | $106,000 | $451,100 |
Median vs average, families that hold a retirement account
2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, 2025 dollars. Upper bar median, lower bar average.
Source: Federal Reserve, 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, Table 6. Bars scaled to the $798,700 maximum.
Two patterns are worth pausing on. Balances rise with age through the 65 to 74 band, and in this wave they do not fall afterwards: the median is $257,000 in both of the oldest bands and the average is highest at 75 and over. A single survey compares different generations at one moment rather than following one family as it ages, so this is not evidence that retirees stop drawing down. And the share of families holding an account peaks at 63.1% in the 55 to 64 band (63.0% at 45 to 54) and drops to 49.0% at 65 to 74, partly because older cohorts were more likely to have a traditional pension instead of an account, and partly because some retirees have spent the balance down to nothing.
The Number Almost Nobody Publishes
The table above answers "among families with a retirement account, how much is in it." It cannot answer "how much does a typical American family have," because the 45.1% of families with no account are excluded from the calculation entirely.
The Federal Reserve publishes the microdata that lets anyone work out the second number, so we did. The table below is our own calculation from the Fed's public summary-extract file for the same survey, using the Fed's own recommended method for its five imputation replicates. It covers every family in the age band, counting a family with no retirement account as $0.
| Age of reference person | Median, all families | Average, all families | Median, families with an account (for contrast) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $0 | $23,600 | $21,000 |
| 35–44 | about $6,800 | $108,700 | $61,200 |
| 45–54 | about $35,800 | $262,000 | $133,000 |
| 55–64 | about $43,900 | $422,900 | $239,000 |
| 65–74 | $0 | $375,700 | $257,000 |
| 75 or more | $0 | $356,000 | $257,000 |
| All families | about $5,200 | $247,600 | $106,000 |
Why the all-family median drops to zero at 65. This looks like an error and is not. The median of all families sits at the 50th percentile of a distribution in which a large block of families is stacked at zero. At ages 45 to 54, 37.0% of families have nothing, so the halfway family sits around the 21st percentile of the savers. At 55 to 64, 36.9% have nothing, so the halfway family again sits around the 21st percentile of savers, and because savers in that band hold more, the all-family median is higher too. At 65 to 74, 51.0% have nothing, so the halfway family has no account at all and the median drops to $0, even though savers in that band hold the largest median balance of any age group. Balances rise with age, but the all-family median follows ownership.
That is also why these particular estimates deserve a caution the published ones do not need. Each sits in a very steep part of the distribution, where a small shift moves the answer a lot, which is why they are printed as approximations. The $0 results are firm: in every one of the five replicates, fewer than half of families in those bands hold an account, so the median is zero by definition. The 65 to 74 band is the closest call, with 49.0% holding an account in the Fed's published table.
A second read on ownership. The Fed's other household survey points the same way. Its Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025, from nearly 13,000 adults interviewed in October 2025 and published in May 2026, found that 61% of adults had a tax-preferred retirement account such as a 401(k) or IRA, 29% had a defined benefit pension, and 67% had one or the other. By age, the share with a tax-preferred account ran 28% at 18 to 24, 63% at 25 to 54, 73% at 55 to 64 and 62% at 65 and over. That survey counts adults rather than families, so its 61% and the Survey of Consumer Finances' 54.9% are not the same statistic, but the shape of the picture is the same: roughly a third of the country is not accumulating in an account at all.
Why the Average Is Not a Benchmark
Across all families that hold a retirement account, the average is $451,100 and the median is $106,000. The average is 4.3 times the median. In a symmetric distribution the two would be close together; here the gap exists because a small number of very large balances pull the arithmetic mean upward while leaving the midpoint alone.
You can put a number on how unrepresentative the average is. Working from the same public microdata, about 76% of families that own a retirement account have less than the average balance. At ages 55 to 64 it is about 74%. An "average" that roughly three in four savers fall short of is not a benchmark; it is a description of how concentrated the money is.
The Federal Reserve says so itself, twice. Its published mean tables carry a standing warning that the estimates "may be sensitive to outliers." And the accompanying article notes that the large difference between median and mean values "reflects the disproportionate share of financial assets held by some families."
The concentration shows up directly in the Fed's own tables. Split by family income, the single national figure breaks into very different countries: in the top tenth of earners, 92.9% of families hold a retirement account and the median holder has $893,800; in the bottom fifth, 13.5% hold one and the median holder has $17,000.
The Fed's report also tracks the average over time for working-age families. Among families with a reference person under 65 that hold an IRA or a defined contribution plan, the average combined balance by age was:
| Age of reference person | 2016 | 2019 | 2022 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $43,800 | $38,300 | $53,800 | $48,400 |
| 35–44 | $135,200 | $167,500 | $154,800 | $182,400 |
| 45–54 | $291,300 | $323,100 | $342,700 | $415,800 |
| 55–64 | $504,800 | $518,200 | $588,500 | $670,200 |
Between 2022 and 2025 the average rose in every age group except the youngest, where it fell from $53,800 to $48,400 in 2025 dollars. Over the same three years the median for families under 35 holding any retirement account rose, from $20,400 to $21,000. The Fed notes the same split for IRA and defined contribution balances: the average fell for the youngest families, yet "Median values, though, increased for all age groups." An average and a median can move in opposite directions in the same group, which is a clear argument for not measuring yourself against an average.
So which number should you compare yourself to? The median for your age band, among families that hold an account, if you hold one. That is the $21,000 to $257,000 column. Treat the average as a fact about the distribution rather than a target.
What Changed Since 2022
Because the survey repeats every three years with figures restated in constant dollars, it can show real change rather than inflation. Both columns below are in 2025 dollars: the Federal Reserve restates the 2022 figures for inflation, so they differ from the 2022 dollar amounts it first published.
| Age | Share with an account, 2022 to 2025 | Median balance, 2022 to 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 49.6% to 48.8% | $20,400 to $21,000 |
| 35–44 | 61.5% to 59.6% | $49,200 to $61,200 |
| 45–54 | 62.2% to 63.0% | $125,900 to $133,000 |
| 55–64 | 57.0% to 63.1% | $202,500 to $239,000 |
| 65–74 | 51.0% to 49.0% | $218,500 to $257,000 |
| 75 or more | 41.8% to 44.6% | $143,400 to $257,000 |
| All families | 54.3% to 54.9% | $95,200 to $106,000 |
The median balance rose in real terms in every age band, and by 11% across all holders. The largest gains came at 35 to 44 (up 24%), which recovers close to half of the fall that band showed between 2019 and 2022 (from $76,100 to $49,200 in 2025 dollars), and at 75 and over, where the median rose from $143,400 to $257,000. Estimates for the oldest band rest on fewer families than the working-age bands, so treat the size of that jump with some caution.
Ownership tells a more mixed story than the balances. Across all families it edged up 0.6 percentage point, to 54.9%, but it rose in only three of the six age bands: by 6.1 points at 55 to 64, 2.8 points at 75 and over and 0.8 point at 45 to 54. It slipped at under 35, at 35 to 44 and at 65 to 74. The Fed's broader measure, which also counts traditional pensions, shows participation among families under 65 at 65.1% in 2025, up slightly from 64.4% in 2022. More money is sitting in the accounts that exist; the share of families with no account at all has barely moved.
A Better Benchmark Than an Average
An average tells you where other people are. It cannot tell you whether you are on track, because the amount you need depends on what you spend, not on what your neighbours saved. Two benchmarks do better.
1. A savings rate. Fidelity's published guideline is to aim to save "at least 15% of your pre-tax income each year, which includes any employer match," starting at 25 and retiring at 67. Fidelity arrives at 15% by estimating that most people need 55% to 80% of their pre-retirement income to keep their lifestyle, and that roughly 45% of retirement income has to come from savings rather than Social Security. It is a guideline from one firm, resting on those assumptions, not a rule. But it has the property an average lacks: it is something you can act on this month.
2. A multiple of your own income. Fidelity's companion guideline is 1x salary saved by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60 and 10x by 67, and it says plainly that "these milestones are aspirational." The 401(k) page lays that ladder out in full. Set against it, the survey data is sobering. Using the same public microdata, the median family aged 55 to 64 that holds a retirement account has roughly 1.4 times its usual income in those accounts, against a guidepost of 8x by 60:
| Age | Median retirement accounts as a multiple of usual income (families holding an account) |
|---|---|
| Under 35 | 0.2x |
| 35–44 | 0.5x |
| 45–54 | 0.9x |
| 55–64 | 1.4x |
| 65–74 | 2.3x |
| 75 or more | 2.5x |
That gap deserves an honest reading rather than a scare. Part of it is real: the Fed's 2025 household survey found only 35% of non-retirees thought their retirement saving was on track, a share that has barely moved since 2017. Part of it is a measurement limit: the multiples above exclude pensions and Social Security, and 39% of adults aged 55 to 64 still have a defined benefit pension, which carries no account balance and therefore contributes zero to these figures.
What the numbers cannot tell you. No national figure knows your mortgage status, your spouse's accounts, whether you have a pension, what you spend, or when you intend to stop working. A balance is only meaningful next to the income it has to produce. As a hypothetical illustration only, a $239,000 balance drawn at 4% a year produces $9,560 in the first year before tax, and a $500,000 balance produces about $20,000; those are arithmetic, not forecasts, and they assume nothing about market returns, inflation or how long the money lasts. Working the same sum with your own numbers is what the Retirement Withdrawal Calculator is for, and the 401(k) Calculator will project a balance forward from where you are now.
If the honest answer is that you have nothing yet. That is where 45.1% of families sit, so it is the normal case rather than the exceptional one. The first question is not how much to save but whether an account exists to save into: an employer plan if one is offered, capturing any match before anything else, and an IRA if not. The Fed's 2025 survey is a reminder that accumulation is fragile at the margin as well, with 14% of non-retirees having borrowed from, cashed out, or cut contributions to a retirement account in the prior twelve months.
For the wider picture, retirement accounts sit inside average net worth by age, cash outside them shows up in average savings by age, and the income most retirees actually live on is covered in the average Social Security check.
Sources & Methodology
Every figure on this page was taken from the institution that produced it, not from a secondary summary. Survey of Consumer Finances figures were updated to the 2025 survey on 2026-10-11; the other figures were re-pulled and re-checked on 2026-09-30.
- Federal Reserve Board, 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances: the headline balances, ownership shares, the income split and the 2022 comparison come from the historic tables (Table 6, family holdings of financial assets), estimates based on internal data and inflation-adjusted to 2025 dollars. The survey interviewed 4,367 families and is the only nationally representative US wealth survey of its kind.
- "Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025", Federal Reserve Bulletin, October 2026: the 54.9% / $106,000 / $451,100 headline, the definition of a retirement account, plan participation, and box 2 table A on IRA and defined contribution balances by age group.
- Federal Reserve SCF interactive chartbook: the Board's own browsable view of the same survey.
- Federal Reserve Board, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025, published 13 May 2026 from a survey of nearly 13,000 adults conducted in October 2025: account and pension ownership by age, the 35% "on track" share, and the 14% who tapped or cut retirement contributions.
- Fidelity: the 15% savings-rate guideline and the assumptions behind it; the salary-multiple milestones are Fidelity's own and are labelled by Fidelity as aspirational.
How the all-family figures were calculated. The Fed publishes medians and means only for families that hold an account. To produce the figures that include families with nothing, we used the Board's Summary Extract Public Data for the 2025 survey, taking the variable RETQLIQ with the sample weight X42001, and following the method the Fed sets out in its own FAQ: compute the statistic separately for each of the five imputation replicates and average the five results. As a check, running the identical calculation restricted to families that hold an account reproduces the Fed's published table to within about 2% on medians and to within 0.1% on ownership shares and means, which is the difference the Fed itself attributes to the statistical alteration applied to public files for respondent privacy. Because the all-family medians sit close to the block of families holding $0, they are sensitive to small shifts and are reported as approximations. The multiples-of-income table uses the same file and weighting with the variable NORMINC.
Vintage and the next update. The 2025 wave, published in October 2026, is the most recent one the Federal Reserve has released. The survey is normally conducted every three years. Comparisons with 2022 use the 2022 figures as the Fed restates them in 2025 dollars.
Limitations, stated plainly. These are 2025 dollars and 2025 balances, so a portfolio that has simply tracked the market has moved since. The category excludes defined benefit pensions, Social Security and home equity. Survey wealth data relies on what families report. And every figure here is a distribution statistic, not a personal benchmark.
This article is for general information and is not financial, investment or tax advice. Figures are from the Federal Reserve Board's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances (checked on 2026-10-11), its Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, and Fidelity's published savings guidelines (checked on 2026-09-30). The withdrawal figures are hypothetical arithmetic used to illustrate scale, not projections, and assume no market return, inflation or tax. Your own situation will differ from any national average; consider speaking to a qualified professional before acting on retirement decisions.
FAQ
What is the average retirement savings in the US?
$451,100 among families that hold a retirement account, with a median of $106,000, per the Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances. Counting all families, including the 45.1% with no account, the average is about $247,600 and the median about $5,200.
How much does the average 60 year old have saved for retirement?
The survey reports in bands rather than single ages. For families aged 55 to 64 that hold a retirement account, the median is $239,000 and the average $670,200. Counting every family in that band, including those with nothing, the median is closer to $43,900.
Should I compare myself to the average or the median?
The median. About 76% of families with a retirement account hold less than the average, because a small number of very large balances pull the average up. The Federal Reserve itself warns that its mean figures "may be sensitive to outliers."
What percentage of Americans have no retirement savings?
45.1% of US families held no retirement account of any kind in 2025. The Fed's 2025 household survey found 61% of adults had a tax-preferred retirement account and 67% had either that or a defined benefit pension, so roughly a third of adults had neither.
Why is this different from the average 401(k) balance?
Different source, different unit. The average 401(k) balance by age comes from Vanguard's recordkeeping data and counts one account belonging to someone already enrolled in a Vanguard plan. This page counts all retirement accounts a family holds, across a nationally representative sample of US families including those with no account at all.
How current is this data?
It comes from the 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, published in October 2026, the most recent wave and the only nationally representative measure of US family wealth. Most interviews took place between April and December 2025, so treat the balances as a picture of the distribution rather than of today's market values.
Do these numbers include pensions and Social Security?
No. The category covers account balances only: IRAs, Keoghs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s and thrift savings plans. A traditional defined benefit pension has no account balance and contributes nothing to these figures, yet 39% of adults aged 55 to 64 still have one. Social Security and home equity are excluded too.
How much should I have saved by my age?
There is no statutory answer. Fidelity's published guideline is to save at least 15% of pre-tax income a year including any employer match, with milestones of 1x salary by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60 and 10x by 67, which Fidelity itself calls aspirational and which assume you start at 25 and retire at 67. Those are one firm's guidelines rather than rules, and they are a more useful yardstick than any national average.
Why is the all-family median $0 at 65 and over?
Because account ownership falls faster than balances rise. Only 49.0% of families aged 65 to 74 and 44.6% of those 75 and over hold a retirement account, so the halfway family in those bands has none. It reflects who owns an account, not what savers have accumulated.
Cite This Page
Journalists, educators and researchers are welcome to cite these figures. Please link back so readers can reach the underlying Federal Reserve data and the methodology note above, particularly for the all-family estimates, which are our own calculation from the Fed's public microdata rather than a published Federal Reserve statistic.
"Average Retirement Savings by Age: The Honest Numbers." Wealthy Pot, 2026. https://wealthypot.com/average-retirement-savings-by-age/
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