In this article 8 sections
- What is the average 401(k) balance by age?
- Why is the average much higher than the median?
- Who is missing from this 401(k) comparison?
- Are Federal Reserve retirement-account balances 401(k) balances?
- How can a personal balance be compared fairly?
- Does being above average mean retirement is funded?
- About this guide
- Sources and check dates
Key points
- In the EBRI/ICI recordkeeper dataset for year-end 2023, the average current-employer 401(k) balance was $78,112 and the median was $15,448. The report was published April 9, 2026, not in 2023.
- Its published age table also separates participants by job tenure. For participants in their 50s, the mean was $32,134 with up to two years of tenure and $97,559 with more than five through ten years.
- Those are participant balances in the reporting database, net of plan loans. They are not balances for every American of that age or total retirement wealth.
- The newer 2025 Federal Reserve survey covers a broader retirement-account category. Calling that category a 401(k) balance would be wrong.
A small balance can mean someone just joined a plan. It can also mean most of the person’s savings sit in an old employer’s plan or an IRA. A large balance can reflect a rollover rather than decades of contributions at the present job.
That is why a useful comparison needs more than an age. The retirement income guide starts with the spending gap that savings must cover. This guide explains what the account benchmarks can, and cannot, add to that calculation.
What is the average 401(k) balance by age?
The following figures come from Figure 4 of the EBRI/ICI report on 2023 plan records, published in April 2026. The authors received participant-level records from several recordkeeping organizations. This is original analysis of 401(k) plans, not a survey category that mixes 401(k)s with IRAs or 403(b)s. Read the original report.
The table deliberately holds job tenure in view. It does not pretend that an age-only average is a retirement target.
| Participant age | Mean balance: 0 to 2 years of tenure | Mean balance: more than 5 through 10 years |
|---|---|---|
| 20s | $7,600 | $25,734 |
| 30s | $15,532 | $49,346 |
| 40s | $23,973 | $76,388 |
| 50s | $32,134 | $97,559 |
| 60s | $37,033 | $100,873 |
Table scope: year-end 2023 dollar balances, not inflation-adjusted to 2026. Age is the participant’s age. Tenure is at the current employer and may exceed time participating in the plan. All entries are arithmetic means for the stated age-and-tenure group, not medians. Current-employer balances are net of outstanding plan loans. Prior-employer accounts and money rolled into IRAs are excluded.
These are two selected tenure columns from the published table. They are not the whole age group’s mean. The selection makes the comparison more specific without inventing an age-only figure or custom estimate.
A participant in their 40s with a recently opened account is not being compared with everyone in their 40s who has worked for the same employer for decades. Even within the selected columns, earnings, contributions, rollovers and investment results can differ. The report describes those factors; it does not establish what any one participant needs.
Why is the average much higher than the median?
Across all 10.6 million participants in the report’s 2023 database, the mean balance was $78,112 and the median was $15,448. Figure 3 identifies both figures and the account definition. Neither is an average for the whole U.S. population.
A mean adds balances and divides by the number of participants. A median locates the middle of the distribution. A small number of very large accounts can lift the mean without lifting the middle account by the same amount.
For a purely hypothetical illustration, take five balances:
| Balance | Amount |
|---|---|
| First | $10,000 |
| Second | $20,000 |
| Third | $30,000 |
| Fourth | $40,000 |
| Fifth | $400,000 |
Their sum is $500,000. Dividing by five produces a $100,000 mean. The middle balance is $30,000, the median. Nobody in this illustration has exactly the mean balance.
The age-and-tenure table above reports means. It does not supply age-specific medians, and the overall median cannot be inserted into every age row. A page that puts a mean in one age group and a median in another has changed the measure halfway through the comparison.
Who is missing from this 401(k) comparison?
The EBRI/ICI report covers active participants represented in the contributing recordkeepers’ data. Its appendix describes the providers, plan sizes and account construction. It is a substantial administrative dataset, but it is not a census of every worker, retiree or 401(k) in the country.
In particular, the benchmark is not designed to include:
- People with no 401(k) account in the contributing plans.
- All savings held at previous employers.
- Money that has already been rolled from a plan into an IRA.
- A spouse’s entire retirement savings.
- The value of Social Security or a future pension payment stream.
The account balances are also net of plan loans. An account figure shown on a personal statement may use a different presentation. A comparison needs the same balance definition on both sides.
The report notes that its participating sample changes over time. A change in the database’s average from one year to another is therefore not automatically the investment return earned by the same people. Participants entering, leaving or being consolidated across providers can change the average too.
These limitations are not reasons to discard the data. They are reasons to label it accurately. It answers a question about recorded current-employer accounts, not a question about all retirement resources.
Are Federal Reserve retirement-account balances 401(k) balances?
No. The 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, released October 9, 2026, is the latest SCF available at this guide’s November 3 check. Its retirement-account category includes IRAs, Keogh accounts and certain employer-sponsored accounts, including 401(k), 403(b) and thrift savings accounts.
In the Fed’s published 2025 table, 54.9% of families held retirement accounts. Among families with those holdings, the median was $106,000 and the mean was $451,100, in 2025 dollars. These are combined family holdings within that broader category, not an individual participant’s current-job 401(k). Table 3 and Appendix A of the Fed report provide the figures and definitions.
There are four separate distinctions:
- Family versus participant. The SCF family is its primary economic unit: an economically dominant person or couple and others financially interdependent with them.
- Reference-person age versus each owner’s age. A family age bracket follows the survey’s designated reference person. It does not mean every family member is that age.
- Holders versus all families. The reported balance mean and median exclude families without the asset. The ownership percentage uses all families as its denominator.
- Broad accounts versus 401(k)s only. Adding IRA and other plan holdings changes the asset being measured.
The SCF also excludes the capitalized value of future Social Security and defined-benefit pension income from these account holdings. Even a correctly labeled retirement-account total is not a complete measure of retirement resources.
For this guide, the Fed’s published figures were checked against its linked historical tables. We did not estimate new balances or percentiles from microdata. The public file contains five imputed records per family; weights and the multiple-imputation design matter. Five records do not mean five independent families.
Put your balances in context
Compare family balances with measured survey benchmarks. This does not say whether your money will last.
2025 survey, 2025 dollars. Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances. Released October 9, 2026. Checked November 3, 2026.
Start with the right age band
JavaScript is required for the interactive comparison. Read the methodology and source tables below without it.
See the other age bands
Retirement medians include holders only. Net worth medians include all families. These rows describe different groups, not a path your balances are expected to follow.
Definitions, methodology and worked example
What does a savings by age benchmark actually measure?
It describes balances reported by families, not the amount anyone needs to retire. This feature uses the Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, released October 9, 2026 and checked November 3, 2026. Both the survey year and the dollar year are 2025. These are the newest SCF results verified for this build, not balances measured today.
The two comparisons have different populations. Retirement account balances describe only families holding those accounts. Net worth describes all families in the age band, including those with zero or negative net worth. The percentage with retirement accounts makes that difference visible. A family without an account is not represented by the retirement holder median.
Whose age and whose balances belong in the boxes?
The SCF's family is its primary economic unit: the economically dominant individual or couple and people financially interdependent with them. It can be one person. It is not automatically everyone sharing an address, and it is not a separate record for every adult.
Age means the age of the survey's reference person. For an economically dominant couple, the SCF uses the male in a mixed sex couple or the older person in a same sex couple. Otherwise it uses the economically dominant individual. This is the survey's classification, not a suggestion about who should control family money. Enter that person's age and the family's balances, rather than comparing one partner's account with a family total. A broad band cannot describe every age within it.
What counts as retirement savings or net worth?
Retirement accounts include IRAs, Keogh accounts and qualifying employer accounts such as 401(k), 403(b) and thrift savings accounts. This is not a 401(k) only comparison. Do not include a savings account merely because you intend to spend it in retirement. Future Social Security benefits and defined benefit pension income are not retirement account balances here.
Net worth is assets less liabilities under the SCF definitions. It includes retirement accounts, home equity and other qualifying assets. Do not add your retirement balance a second time to an existing net worth total. Do not add a made up capital value for future Social Security or pension payments. Negative net worth is a valid entry when debts exceed assets.
Why show both the median and the mean?
The median is the middle of a weighted distribution. The mean is the weighted arithmetic average and can be pulled upward by very large balances. They answer different questions. Neither is a savings target. The published retirement mean table specifically cautions that its estimates have not been reviewed for robustness and may be sensitive to outliers.
The local data pipeline reads the Board's published internal historical tables, checks worksheet labels and units, and converts thousands of dollars to dollars. Table 4 supplies net worth; Table 6 supplies retirement holdings and ownership rates. Original downloads, cell references and checksums are retained for audit. Published all family aggregates are checked against the report. Public data table comparisons are retained separately, not silently substituted.
We do not estimate a new distribution from survey microdata. Sampling and imputation uncertainty still apply to the published estimates. This feature does not calculate confidence intervals, test statistical significance or infer an individual percentile from a median and mean.
What does an example comparison look like?
Consider an illustrative family whose reference person is 60, with $250,000 in retirement accounts and $500,000 of net worth, both expressed in 2025 dollars. The selected band is 55 to 64. Among families holding retirement accounts in that band, the median is $239,000 and the mean is $670,200. The ownership rate is 63.1%. Across all families in the band, median net worth is $411,900 and mean net worth is $1,878,000.
The entered retirement balance exceeds the holder median by $11,000. The net worth entry exceeds its median by $88,100. Those are arithmetic differences, not statements about adequacy. The same balances could support very different spending needs.
Can this tell me whether my retirement money will last?
No. Age and balances do not establish spending, future income, taxes, fees, health costs or longevity. Use this as context beside the income experience, not as a verdict. Home equity is not automatically cash available to spend.
Enter balances in 2025 dollars for a consistent comparison. The feature does not convert current balances for inflation or project the survey forward. Leave a balance blank to view the benchmark without a personal comparison. Inputs remain in your browser. Preparing a summary is optional and deliberately includes your entries; nothing is sent automatically.
Sources you can check
- 2025 SCF release and documentation
- Published internal tables, 2025 dollars
- 2025 SCF report, published October 9, 2026
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Published internal tables are used with attribution. Survey estimates are not a retirement savings target or personalized financial advice.
How can a personal balance be compared fairly?
Start with a small account inventory. Put a statement date beside each balance and identify whose money it is, whether it belongs to the current employer’s plan, and whether an outstanding loan is included.
For example, assume a person has $50,000 in a current-employer plan, $90,000 in an old plan and $60,000 in an IRA. The combined account total is $200,000. The current-employer balance is still only $50,000.
Comparing $200,000 with the EBRI/ICI current-employer table would give the comparison more assets on one side than the source counts on the other. Comparing the same person’s accounts with an SCF family median would introduce a different mismatch unless the whole relevant family unit were included.
An inventory can answer the more useful questions:
- Is this comparison based on the same date and dollar year?
- Is it an individual account, a participant total or family holdings?
- Are zeros excluded?
- Is the figure a mean or a median?
- Is the statistic age-only or age plus tenure?
None of the published figures above gives an exact percentile rank for a particular balance. A median alone cannot tell whether an account is in the top tenth, top quarter or any other specific group.
Does being above average mean retirement is funded?
No. A balance comparison does not include the household’s spending needs, benefits, planned retirement date, taxes or length of withdrawals.
Suppose the annual gap after other income is a hypothetical $18,000. Dividing it by a hypothetical 4% initial withdrawal rate gives $450,000. That calculation does not become a sustainability test because the resulting balance is above a survey mean or median. It still lacks return assumptions, inflation, fees and a withdrawal horizon.
The practical next calculation is the gap itself. The retirement budget guide builds the expense side, while average retirement income separates income from account balances. The retirement withdrawal strategy guide addresses the separate question of an ongoing method for drawing on accounts.
A peer benchmark describes other accounts. A retirement plan has to describe the cash that a particular set of accounts may need to supply.
About this guide
This guide describes U.S. survey and retirement-plan data. It does not recommend a provider, account transfer or investment, and it is not personalized investment advice. The EBRI/ICI figures describe year-end 2023 accounts; the Fed figures describe the 2025 survey. Sources were checked November 3, 2026.
Written by the Diversify Guy editorial desk. Diversify Guy is a pen name. It is the byline of our editorial team, not a single individual. We do not publish personal trading records or claim to be your adviser. We tell you where every figure came from so you can check it yourself. How we work and how we get paid.
Sources and check dates
All sources checked November 3, 2026.
- EBRI and ICI, 401(k) Plan Asset Allocation, Account Balances, and Loan Activity in 2023, Issue Brief 655, April 9, 2026. Figures 3 and 4 and the data appendix. The figures above are from this specified release, not a claim that every recordkeeper’s newest report uses 2023 data.
- Federal Reserve, 2025 SCF index and release date, including its warning about five implicates and survey design.
- Federal Reserve, Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025, Table 3 and Appendixes A and B.
- Federal Reserve, published historical tables based on internal data, in 2025 dollars, Table 6 holdings and ownership. No custom microdata estimates were used.
About this byline
Diversify Guy is the pen name of our editorial desk, not a person. We do not claim a personal investment track record, we are not advisers, and every claim about a company comes from a source you can check. Who writes this
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