Retirement account balances by age, 2025
The table shows, for each age group, the share of families with any retirement account and the median and mean balance among the families that have one. The data come from the Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, which interviewed 4,367 families and was published on October 9, 2026. All amounts are in 2025 dollars.
| Age | Have an account | Median balance | Mean balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 48.8% | $21,000 | $48,400 |
| 35 to 44 | 59.6% | $61,200 | $182,400 |
| 45 to 54 | 63.0% | $133,000 | $415,800 |
| 55 to 64 | 63.1% | $239,000 | $670,200 |
| 65 to 74 | 49.0% | $257,000 | $767,600 |
| 75 or older | 44.6% | $257,000 | $798,700 |
| All families | 54.9% | $106,000 | $451,100 |
Read the median as the typical saver: half the families with an account in that age group have more, half have less. The balance climbs fast through working life, from $21,000 under 35 to $239,000 at 55 to 64, and then flattens. Ownership peaks at about 63 percent between 45 and 64 and is lower at both ends.
Median vs mean: why the average misleads
The mean is the total of all balances divided by the number of families that hold an account. A few very large accounts pull it far above what most people have. Depending on the age group, the mean is 2.3 to 3.1 times the median. When you read an "average" retirement balance somewhere, check whether it is the mean. If it is, it describes few real savers.
There is a second trap. Both figures in the table only count families that have an account. Families without one are left out, not counted as zero. In three of the six age groups, under 35, 65 to 74 and 75 or older, fewer than half of all families have any retirement account. That means the median across all families in those groups, savers and non-savers together, is $0.
What counts as a retirement account
The survey's definition is narrow and precise. According to Appendix A of the Federal Reserve report, retirement accounts are:
- Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Keogh accounts.
- Account-type employer plans from a current or past job, such as 401(k), 403(b) and Thrift Savings Plan accounts, where the family will get the balance in the future.
The balances of a couple are added together, because the survey measures families, not individuals. The age group is the age of the family's reference person, which for a couple is the older partner in a same-sex couple or the man in a mixed-sex couple.
Three things are not in these numbers:
- Social Security. The report leaves it out because a future benefit stream cannot easily be turned into a present value; that depends on assumptions about work, inflation, interest rates and lifespan.
- Defined benefit pensions. Same reason. The report notes that around one fourth of families under 65 have a defined benefit plan, so for many people the table understates what they will have in retirement.
- Ordinary savings and investments. A regular brokerage account, a savings account or a house can fund retirement too, but the survey counts them in other categories. For the whole picture, see net worth by age from the same survey.
The Federal Reserve also reports a wider measure. Counting IRAs, account-type plans and defined benefit pensions together, 65.1 percent of families with a reference person aged 64 or younger took part in some retirement plan in 2025, up slightly from 64.4 percent in 2022.
Balances by income
Age explains part of the spread. Income explains more. The same table broken down by income percentile shows how strongly ownership and balances rise with what a family earns.
| Income percentile | Have an account | Median balance | Mean balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom 20% | 13.5% | $17,000 | $86,200 |
| 20th to 40th | 36.3% | $25,000 | $88,500 |
| 40th to 60th | 56.5% | $50,000 | $153,200 |
| 60th to 80th | 78.2% | $100,000 | $270,500 |
| 80th to 90th | 86.5% | $239,000 | $472,900 |
| Top 10% | 92.9% | $893,800 | $1,487,000 |
Only 13.5% of families in the bottom fifth of incomes have a retirement account, against 92.9% in the top tenth. If you compare yourself with your age group, keep your income in mind: a family at the 40th to 60th percentile with $50,000 is at the median for its income band, even though the median for its age group may be higher.
How balances changed since 2022
The survey runs every three years. Adjusted for inflation to 2025 dollars, the median balance among holders rose in every age group between the 2022 and 2025 surveys.
| Age | Median 2022 | Median 2025 | Change | Mean 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $20,400 | $21,000 | +3% | $48,400 | −10% |
| 35 to 44 | $49,200 | $61,200 | +24% | $182,400 | +18% |
| 45 to 54 | $125,900 | $133,000 | +6% | $415,800 | +21% |
| 55 to 64 | $202,500 | $239,000 | +18% | $670,200 | +14% |
| 65 to 74 | $218,500 | $257,000 | +18% | $767,600 | +15% |
| 75 or older | $143,400 | $257,000 | +79% | $798,700 | +57% |
| All families | $95,200 | $106,000 | +11% | $451,100 | +23% |
The mean fell only for the youngest group, which matches the report's own reading for families under 65: average balances rose for every age group except the youngest, and medians rose for all of them. The share of families with any account barely moved overall, from 54.3% to 54.9%.
Worked example: comparing your own balance
Say you are 40, with $45,000 across your 401(k) and an old IRA. Your age group is 35 to 44, where 59.6% of families have an account and the median holder has $61,200. You are below that median today, and ahead of the 40.4% of families in your age group who have no retirement account at all.
Now look forward. You put $500 a month into your 401(k), which is $6,000 a year. For 2026 the IRS lets you defer up to $24,500 into a 401(k), plus $8,000 in catch-up contributions from age 50, and put up to $7,500 into an IRA, so you are far from the limits. Assume a 6 percent yearly return and 2.5 percent inflation. These are assumptions for the example, not a forecast. The projection below uses the same month-by-month model as the retirement savings calculator.
| End of age | Balance | In today's dollars | Survey median at that age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | $251,300 | $173,500 | $133,000 (45 to 54) |
| 64 | $531,300 | $286,600 | $239,000 (55 to 64) |
In today's dollars the balance passes the 45 to 54 median of $133,000 by the end of age 50 and the 55 to 64 median of $239,000 by the end of age 61. You would still be far below the mean of $670,200 for ages 55 to 64. Raise the deposit to $800 a month and the balance at the end of age 64 grows to $734,200, or $396,000 in today's dollars. The 401(k) calculator adds employer matching and salary growth to this, and the compound interest calculator shows the year-by-year growth for any rate.
Use the today's-dollars column for the comparison. The survey reports 2025 dollars, so a future nominal balance would look better against it than it really is.
How to use these numbers
- Compare with the median, not the mean. The median is what a typical saver your age has. The mean mostly reflects the largest accounts.
- Add the spouse's accounts. The survey adds up all accounts in the family. Comparing one partner's 401(k) with a family figure makes you look further behind than you are.
- Count what the table leaves out. A defined benefit pension, a taxable brokerage account or rental property all fund retirement. The net worth calculator puts them on one page.
- Treat the median as a reference, not a target. What you need depends on your spending, your Social Security benefit and when you stop working. The retirement savings calculator works that out from your own numbers.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the average American have in retirement savings?
In the Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, 54.9% of families had a retirement account such as a 401(k) or an IRA. Among those families, the median balance was $106,000 and the mean was $451,100. The mean is more than four times the median because a small number of very large accounts pull it up.
How much do Americans in their 50s have saved for retirement?
For families whose reference person is 55 to 64, 63.1% had a retirement account in 2025, with a median of $239,000 and a mean of $670,200. For ages 45 to 54 the figures are 63.0%, $133,000 and $415,800.
Do these numbers include Social Security or a pension?
No. The Survey of Consumer Finances counts IRAs, Keogh accounts and account-type employer plans such as 401(k), 403(b) and Thrift Savings Plan accounts. It leaves out Social Security and defined benefit pensions, because a future income stream has no simple current value. A family with a good pension can look poor in these tables and still be well prepared.
Are the figures per person or per household?
Per family. The survey treats a single person or a couple and everyone financially dependent on them as one family, and adds up all their accounts. A married couple with two 401(k)s and two IRAs counts as one family with one combined balance. The age group is the age of the family's reference person.
Why are the medians for people over 65 not much higher than for 55 to 64?
The survey is a snapshot of different families in 2025, not the same families followed over time, so the older groups are not simply the younger ones a decade later. The median for holders was $257,000 in both groups, 65 to 74 and 75 or older, while the share holding any account fell to 49.0% and 44.6%.
Sources
- Federal Reserve Board, Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances, October 2026 (Box 2, Table 3, Appendix A)
- Federal Reserve Board, Survey of Consumer Finances 2025, historic tables, internal data, inflation-adjusted to 2025 dollars (Table 6)
- Federal Reserve Board, Survey of Consumer Finances overview page, release date October 9, 2026
- IRS, 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500 (IR-2025-111, November 13, 2025)