401(k) Balance by Age (2025)
What families at each age hold in 401(k), 403(b) and other workplace plans, from the Federal Reserve’s 2025 survey. Enter your balance to see where it ranks.
Empty: all ages
401(k), 403(b), TSP; a couple’s combined. Stays on this device.
Compare
ExampleYour rank, ages 35–44
78thpercentile
More saved than about 78% of families headed by someone aged 35–44, counting the 47% with none.
- $1M or more1%
- $500K–$1M3%
- $250K–$500K5%
- $100K–$250K10%
- $50K–$100KYou9%
- $10K–$50K13%
- $1–$10K11%
- None47%
- Among families with accounts
- 58th percentile
- Median with an account, ages 35–44
- $60,000
- With none, ages 35–44
- 47%
Compares your number with a survey of US families; not financial advice. SourcesTerms
What counts as retirement savingsAs the Federal Reserve measures it
All accounts: traditional and Roth IRAs, Keoghs, and account-type workplace plans such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s and the federal Thrift Savings Plan, including plans left with past employers and accounts you are drawing from. A couple’s accounts count together.
401(k)s only: the workplace plans on their own, without IRAs. The survey doesn’t separate 401(k)s from 403(b)s and thrift plans, so they are counted together.
Not counted: Social Security and traditional pensions that pay a set monthly income, health savings and 529 accounts, and ordinary savings or brokerage accounts.
How this works: Method, 6 sources, Checked against 2 worked examples,
How this works
Method
Your balance is placed among US families whose reference person is your age, on the 1st to 99th percentiles of the Federal Reserve’s 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, counting families with no retirement account at $0, and again among only the families that have one. We work the percentiles out from the Fed’s public data file, weighting each family and pooling the survey’s five imputations as the Fed does; the share with an account and the median and mean among them match the Fed’s public-data tables to the dollar. The 401(k)-only view is our split of the same data.
Sources
- Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances (Federal Reserve Bulletin, 2026)
- Survey of Consumer Finances 2025, summary extract public data (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2026)
- SCF historic tables based on public data, in 2025 dollars (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2026)
- SCF historic tables based on internal data, in 2025 dollars (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2026)
- Survey of Consumer Finances 2025 codebook (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2026)
- Survey of Consumer Finances: frequently asked questions (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)
How it’s tested
2 worked examples for this page are checked by automated tests before every release: given the inputs, the tool must show the expected answer.
Limits
Compares your number with a survey of US families; not financial advice.
Changes
- First published, on the Fed’s 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances: your rank for your age among all families and among savers, 401(k)s on their own, and two by-age pages.
Worked example: $150,000 in a 401(k) at 47
A 47-year-old with $150,000 in workplace plans is compared with families aged 45–54. 45% of those families have no 401(k)-type plan, so $150,000 ranks at the 78th percentile of all of them. Among the 54.6% who have one, the median is $110,000, and $150,000 ranks at the 59th percentile.
401(k)-type plan balances by age, 2025
Share of families with a 401(k), 403(b), thrift or similar workplace plan, and the median and mean among them, in 2025 dollars. Our weighted calculation from the Fed’s SCF 2025 public data.
| Age | Have one | Median, if any | Mean, if any |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 42.8% | $14,000 | $42,506 |
| 35–44 | 52.5% | $60,000 | $152,072 |
| 45–54 | 54.6% | $110,000 | $307,642 |
| 55–64 | 50.0% | $133,000 | $442,644 |
| 65–74 | 23.4% | $130,000 | $493,560 |
| 75 and over | 11.7% | $66,000 | $600,791 |
| All families | 40.3% | $66,000 | $275,219 |
Workplace plans are most common in middle age: 54.6% of families aged 45–54 have one, against 42.8% under 35. After 65 the share drops fast, to 23.4% at 65–74 and 11.7% at 75 and over, while IRAs grow more common with age, from 19.2% of families under 35 to 38.3% at 75 and over. That pattern fits people moving old 401(k)s into IRAs when they change jobs or retire.
As with every balance, the mean sits far above the median. For families aged 55–64 with a workplace plan the mean is $442,644 and the median $133,000. A handful of very large accounts lift the average; the median is what a typical saver that age has.
Figures from plan providers often look different because they describe one person’s account at one provider, not a family’s plans added together, and they leave out everyone without an account. A family with two earners can hold two or three workplace plans and an IRA, which is why the survey’s family totals are the fairer comparison for a household.
IRAs by age, 2025
Share of families with an IRA or Keogh, and the median and mean among them, in 2025 dollars. Our calculation from the same data.
| Age | Have one | Median, if any | Mean, if any |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 19.2% | $19,810 | $28,433 |
| 35–44 | 24.9% | $49,500 | $115,627 |
| 45–54 | 31.3% | $77,000 | $300,466 |
| 55–64 | 36.5% | $195,000 | $551,641 |
| 65–74 | 36.4% | $250,000 | $716,090 |
| 75 and over | 38.3% | $257,000 | $744,652 |
| All families | 30.5% | $100,000 | $448,249 |
What counts as a 401(k) here
The survey asks about account-type plans at each partner’s current job, plans left with past employers and accounts already being drawn on. It doesn’t separate 401(k)s from 403(b)s or thrift plans such as the federal Thrift Savings Plan, so this page counts them together as 401(k)-type plans. A married couple’s plans are added together, because the survey measures families.
IRAs are counted separately, including rollover IRAs that hold money moved out of an old 401(k). The Fed publishes only the total of all retirement accounts; the split on this page is our calculation from its public data, and the two parts add up to the Fed’s total for every family in the file.
- Among families headed by someone 64 or younger, enrollment in account-type workplace plans or IRAs ran from around 50% for the youngest to around 65% for the oldest in 2025. Source: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances.
- Participation among the youngest families rose the most: from 42% in 2016 to near 50% in 2025. Source: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances.
Sources
- Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances
- Survey of Consumer Finances 2025, summary extract public data
- SCF historic tables based on public data, in 2025 dollars
- SCF historic tables based on internal data, in 2025 dollars
- Survey of Consumer Finances 2025 codebook
- Survey of Consumer Finances: frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average 401(k) balance by age?
Among families with a 401(k)-type plan in 2025, the mean balance was under 35: $42,506; 35–44: $152,072; 45–54: $307,642; 55–64: $442,644; 65–74: $493,560; 75 and over: $600,791. These are family totals across all their workplace plans, from our calculation on the Fed’s 2025 public data.
What is the median 401(k) balance by age?
Among families with a plan: under 35: $14,000; 35–44: $60,000; 45–54: $110,000; 55–64: $133,000; 65–74: $130,000; 75 and over: $66,000. Half of savers in each group have more and half less. Counting families without a plan, the median is under $10,000 at every age, because about half of families or more have none.
Why do so few retirees have a 401(k)?
Only 11.7% of families 75 and over still have a workplace plan, but 38.3% have an IRA. Retirees often move a 401(k) into an IRA, and some families rely on a traditional pension instead, which isn’t an account and isn’t counted here.
Should I compare my 401(k) alone or all my retirement accounts?
All of them, for the fullest picture: an old 401(k) rolled into an IRA is still retirement savings. Switch the tool to “All accounts” and enter every 401(k), 403(b) and IRA in your family. Compare the 401(k) alone only if that is the one account you have.