Average 401(k) Balance by Age Statistics (2026)

Two firms recordkeep for tens of millions of savers, so their averages are the closest thing to a national 401(k) benchmark. Vanguard reported an average balance of $167,970 at the end of 2025, and Fidelity a record $146,400 in the fourth quarter, up more than 11% on the year.

The averages sound reassuring, but they are misleading. Vanguard's median, the balance of the person exactly in the middle, was only $44,115, and Fidelity's was about $34,400. The typical account is a fraction of the average because a handful of very large balances drag the mean upward.

Balances build steeply with age as contributions compound and salaries rise. Vanguard's year-end 2025 data shows an average of about $7,259 for savers under 25, rising to $50,261 at 25-34, $120,742 at 35-44, $214,991 at 45-54, and $305,006 at 55-64 (see the chart and table below).

The oldest group, 65 and up, averages $330,186, the peak before drawdown accelerates. The near tenfold jump between the mid-20s and the mid-50s captures two forces at once: decades of added contributions and the compounding of investment returns on top of them.

If you want to know where a typical saver stands, use the median, not the average. Vanguard's median balances by age are dramatically lower: about $2,234 under 25, $18,732 at 25-34, $46,919 at 35-44, $78,730 at 45-54, and $107,269 at 55-64 (see the chart below).

Both the average and the median rose across every age band from 2024 to 2025 as markets climbed and savings rates hit records (see the table below). The aggregate Vanguard balance grew about 13% on the year, so most of the increase came from returns rather than new contributions.

At 55-64, the average balance is $305,006 but the median is $107,269, so the average is nearly three times the median. That gap is the signature of a right-skewed distribution: a minority of large accounts, including Fidelity's roughly 665,000 millionaires, pulls the mean far above the middle.

The practical lesson is to benchmark yourself against the median, not the average. If your balance beats the median for your age, you are ahead of at least half of savers, even though you may sit well below the headline average number that gets quoted in the press.

Fidelity's by-age series, drawn from a different pool of savers, lands in the same territory. It shows about $7,700 for ages 20-24, $51,700 at 30-34, $120,100 at 40-44, $215,700 at 50-54, and $260,800 at 55-59 (see the table below).

Notice how balances flatten after the late 50s: the 60-64 average ($257,400) is barely different from the 55-59 figure. That plateau reflects retirees beginning to draw down accounts and roll money into IRAs, not a collapse in saving.

Sliced by generation, the pattern is a clean ladder. Fidelity puts the average Gen Z 401(k) at about $18,000, Millennials at $82,600, Gen X at $215,600, and Baby Boomers at $260,300, with parallel IRA balances that grow the same way (see the table below).

Savings rates climb with age too. Gen Z workers defer about 7.5% of pay into their 401(k), Millennials 9%, Gen X 10.5%, and Boomers 12.2%, before the employer match. Older workers both earn more and save a larger share of it, which compounds the balance gap.

Savings rates are at record highs. Vanguard's average employee deferral was 7.6% (median 6.6%), and once the employer match is added the total savings rate reached 12.1%, an all-time high (see the chart and table below). Fidelity's comparable total rate was even higher at 14.4%, close to its 15% target.

The improvement is largely structural. Nearly two-thirds of Vanguard plans now default new hires in at 4% or more, and roughly a third default at 6%, so more workers save more without ever making an active choice. Fidelity's average quarterly employer contribution hit a record $2,080.

The quiet revolution behind rising balances is automatic enrollment. Vanguard plan participation reached 86% of eligible workers in 2025, up from 65% at the turn of the century, as automatic enrollment spread from about 10% of plans in 2006 to 61% today (79% among large plans).

Behavior improved alongside design. Only 5% of participants traded during bouts of market volatility, and roughly 70% of savers now sit in a professionally managed allocation such as a single target-date fund, up from a market where do-it-yourself allocation was the norm.

Hitting the IRS contribution ceiling is rare and skewed toward high earners. Only about 14% of Vanguard participants contributed the maximum ($23,500, or up to $31,000 with the age-50 catch-up). Among workers earning $150,000 or more, 51% maxed out, versus fewer than 1% of those earning under $50,000.

Catch-up contributions are similarly concentrated: just 17% of eligible participants aged 50 and older used the extra catch-up room. The takeaway is that the impressive average balances are propped up by a relatively small, high-income slice of savers.

The tail of the distribution is striking. Fidelity counted about 665,000 401(k) millionaires at the end of 2025, up from 654,000 the prior quarter, a record. These savers have typically contributed steadily for 25 years or more.

They are overwhelmingly older: Millennials make up only about 4% of seven-figure 401(k) balances. The lesson from the millionaire cohort is not stock-picking genius but duration, a long, uninterrupted savings streak inside a tax-advantaged plan.

A 401(k) is only one bucket. The Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, which counts all retirement accounts across families that have them, put the median at $87,000 and the mean at $333,940, again a wide skew (see the table below).

By age, the median retirement balance runs from $18,880 under 35 to $185,000 at 55-64 and $200,000 at 65-74, before dipping to $130,000 for those 75 and up as households spend down. These government figures lag the recordkeeper data but confirm the same shape.

Where you work shapes your balance. Vanguard data by sector shows manufacturing plans averaging $148,759 (median $38,803), education and healthcare $113,003 ($29,978), and the communications, utilities, and technology group $95,318, with a much lower median of $15,329.

The wide average-to-median gaps within tech reflect a young, high-turnover workforce with many small accounts alongside a few very large ones. Higher-paying industries do not automatically produce higher typical balances if tenure is short.

The common rule of thumb, popularized by Fidelity, is to have roughly 1x your salary saved by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, and 10x by 67, while saving about 15% of pay each year. On a $60,000 salary that implies about $180,000 by 50.

Compare that with the median 55-64 balance of $107,269 and it is clear the typical saver is behind the guideline. Benchmarks are motivational targets, not fate: the levers that close the gap are the savings rate and the number of years you stay invested.

Three habits separate the large balances from the small ones, and none of them require market timing: capture the full employer match (free money, often worth a few percent of pay), raise your deferral by a point or two whenever you get a raise, and leave the money invested through downturns rather than trading.

If you are behind the median for your age, the fastest fix is the savings rate. Moving from a 6% to a 10% deferral on a $70,000 salary adds about $2,800 a year in contributions, and over a few decades of compounding that single change can be the difference between the median and a seven-figure balance.