The average 401(k) balance by age, among U.S. households holding a 401(k)-type plan in 2025, was $42,500 under 35, $152,100 at 35 to 44, $307,600 at 45 to 54, $442,600 at 55 to 64 and $493,600 at 65 to 74. Medians were $14,000, $60,000, $110,000, $133,000 and $130,000 (Q3 tabulation, Federal Reserve SCF 2025).
Average and median 401(k) balance by age in 2025
Among households that hold any 401(k), 403(b), thrift or similar employer account, the 2025 median balance was $66,000 and the mean was $275,200, with 40.3% of all U.S. households (about 54.4 million) holding one. These figures come from a Q3 tabulation of the Federal Reserve 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) public extract, released October 9, 2026.
| Age of household head | Households with a 401(k)-type account | Median balance (holders) | Average balance (holders) | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | 90th percentile | Sample households with an account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 42.8% | $14,000 | $42,500 | $5,000 | $47,000 | $135,000 | 264 |
| 35 to 44 | 52.5% | $60,000 | $152,100 | $14,000 | $161,000 | $384,000 | 381 |
| 45 to 54 | 54.6% | $110,000 | $307,600 | $41,000 | $332,800 | $760,000 | 454 |
| 55 to 64 | 50.0% | $133,000 | $442,600 | $45,000 | $466,000 | $1,034,000 | 442 |
| 65 to 74 | 23.4% | $130,000 | $493,600 | $39,100 | $410,000 | $1,400,000 | 241 |
| 75 and older | 11.7% | $66,000 | $600,800 | $20,000 | $600,000 | $1,600,000 | 79 |
| All households | 40.3% | $66,000 | $275,200 | $16,000 | $233,000 | $650,000 | 1,863 |
Source: Q3 tabulation of the Federal Reserve SCF 2025 summary extract, weighted, all five implicates, 2025 dollars. “401(k)-type account” is the sum of the Fed variables THRIFT, FUTPEN and CURRPEN: employer account plans at a current job, balances left in former employers’ plans, and account plans now paying out. IRAs are excluded. The 75 and older row rests on 79 sample households and is shown for completeness only.
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The unit here is the household, not the worker. A married couple’s two 401(k) accounts are added together, and a household headed by a 58-year-old counts in the 55 to 64 row even if the spouse is 49. Couple-level breakdowns are in the Q3 report on average retirement savings for married couples.
The average sits 2.5 to 9.1 times above the median in every row, because 10% of holders aged 55 to 64 have $1,034,000 or more while a quarter hold $45,000 or less. The median is the household in the middle; the average is pulled up by the top tail. The share of households crossing $1 million is tabulated separately in what percentage of people retire with $1 million.
Key findings
- In 2025, 40.3% of U.S. households held a 401(k), 403(b), thrift or similar employer account, with a median balance of $66,000 among holders (Q3 tabulation, Fed SCF 2025).
- Ownership peaks at 54.6% for households headed by someone 45 to 54 and falls to 23.4% at 65 to 74 as balances move into IRAs (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025).
- The median 401(k)-type balance for households 55 to 64 was $133,000; the average was $442,600 (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025).
- Counting only the plan at the current job, the 55 to 64 median was $87,000, below the $105,000 median for 45 to 54 (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025, variable THRIFT).
- For households 50 to 54, the median was $105,000 and the average $363,700, from 244 sample households with an account (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025).
- Among holders under 35, 41.7% had less than $10,000 in employer accounts in 2025 (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025).
- The all-ages median rose 14% in real terms, from $58,000 in 2022 to $66,000 in 2025, both in 2025 dollars (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2022 and 2025).
- Vanguard’s recordkeeping median for participants 55 to 64 was $107,269 at year-end 2025, across 4.6 million participant accounts (Vanguard, How America Saves 2026, Figure 53).
What is the average 401(k) balance at 50, and at each five-year age?
For households headed by someone aged 50 to 54, the 2025 median 401(k)-type balance was $105,000 and the average was $363,700, among the 54.9% of those households that held an account. At 60 to 64 the median was $144,000 and the average $499,700 (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025).
| Age of household head | Households with an account | Median (holders) | Average (holders) | Holders under $10,000 | Sample households with an account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 25 | 26.8% | $3,900 | $4,700 | 87.9% | 21 |
| 25 to 29 | 50.8% | $12,700 | $34,400 | 45.7% | 104 |
| 30 to 34 | 44.9% | $27,000 | $59,700 | 25.3% | 139 |
| 35 to 39 | 49.3% | $56,000 | $128,000 | 19.4% | 183 |
| 40 to 44 | 56.0% | $60,000 | $175,200 | 21.2% | 198 |
| 45 to 49 | 54.4% | $114,000 | $252,800 | 11.9% | 210 |
| 50 to 54 | 54.9% | $105,000 | $363,700 | 6.5% | 244 |
| 55 to 59 | 50.9% | $125,000 | $378,800 | 8.3% | 206 |
| 60 to 64 | 49.2% | $144,000 | $499,700 | 9.4% | 236 |
| 65 to 69 | 27.0% | $142,000 | $445,200 | 8.5% | 136 |
| 70 to 74 | 19.3% | $120,000 | $570,200 | 12.4% | 105 |
Source: Q3 tabulation of the Federal Reserve SCF 2025 summary extract, same definition as the first table. Five-year cells rest on 21 to 244 sample households; the under 25 row is too thin to quote on its own.
The 45 to 49 median ($114,000) sits above the 50 to 54 median ($105,000). Across the five SCF implicates, the 50 to 54 median ranged from $101,000 to $110,000 and the 45 to 49 median from $103,200 to $120,000, so the two cells overlap and the ordering is within survey noise rather than a finding.
How many years of 2026 maximum contributions does each median equal?
The 2026 elective deferral limit under IRC section 402(g) is $24,500, with an $8,000 catch-up at 50 and an $11,250 catch-up at ages 60 to 63 under IRC section 414(v), per the IRS cost-of-living table. Dividing each 2025 median by the matching 2026 employee maximum gives a plain yardstick (Q3 calculation using 2026 IRS figures; ignores investment returns and employer money).
- Under 35: the $14,000 median equals 0.6 of one year at $24,500.
- 35 to 44: the $60,000 median equals 2.4 years at $24,500.
- 50 to 54: the $105,000 median equals 3.2 years at $32,500 ($24,500 plus the $8,000 catch-up).
- 60 to 64: the $144,000 median equals 4.0 years at $35,750, the ceiling for a 60 to 63 year old ($24,500 plus $11,250).
Worked example: a hypothetical 61-year-old holding the $144,000 band median who defers the full $35,750 in 2026 adds 25% of that balance in one year from employee money alone. If the plan offers Roth deferrals, the same $35,750 can go in as Roth dollars; the trade-off between Roth deferrals and later conversions in the years before RMDs at 73 or 75 is covered in Roth conversions at 60.
Why does the current-job 401(k) median drop from $105,000 at 45 to 54 to $87,000 at 55 to 64?
The dip appears only when the measure is limited to the plan at a household’s current job (the Fed’s THRIFT variable). Once balances left at former employers and accounts in payout are added, the 55 to 64 median rises to $133,000, above the 45 to 54 figure of $110,000 (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025).
| Age of household head | Median, current-job plan only | Median, all employer accounts | Median, employer accounts plus IRAs | Share of employer-account dollars at a current job | Households with only former-job or payout accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $11,000 | $14,000 | $21,000 | 92.5% | 2.1% |
| 35 to 44 | $56,000 | $60,000 | $61,000 | 86.5% | 2.6% |
| 45 to 54 | $105,000 | $110,000 | $133,000 | 82.8% | 3.8% |
| 55 to 64 | $87,000 | $133,000 | $239,000 | 69.5% | 7.4% |
| 65 to 74 | $100,000 | $130,000 | $257,000 | 47.8% | 10.0% |
Source: Q3 tabulation of the Federal Reserve SCF 2025 summary extract. Each median is among households holding that measure. “Employer accounts plus IRAs” is the Fed’s RETQLIQ, its published “retirement accounts” concept.
Three mechanics move money out of the current-job plan in the late 50s and early 60s. First, job changes leave balances behind: 21.2% of employer-account dollars for 55 to 64 households sat in former employers’ plans in 2025. Second, 9.3% of those dollars were in accounts already paying out. Third, rollovers move money into IRAs, and 36.5% of 55 to 64 households held an IRA with a median of $195,000 (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025). The choice between leaving money in a former plan and moving it is covered in whether to roll a 401(k) to a new employer.
Sampling also plays a part. The same current-job measure for 55 to 64 households was $126,900 in the 2022 survey (2025 dollars), and the 2025 cell rests on 378 sample households, so part of the drop to $87,000 may be survey noise that the five implicates cannot reveal.
A statutory detail most balance-by-age pages skip explains part of the young-worker numbers too. Under IRC section 411(a)(11)(A), a plan may pay out a departing worker’s vested balance without consent when it is $7,000 or less, and IRC section 401(a)(31)(B) requires a mandatory payout above $1,000 to go into an IRA by default. Small balances therefore leave 401(k) statistics entirely when people change jobs, which keeps the measured 401(k) median low for households under 35 while their IRA count rises.
Did 401(k) balances grow between the 2022 and 2025 surveys?
Yes for the middle age bands. After adjusting the 2022 survey to 2025 dollars with the Fed’s CPI-U-RS factor of 1.0944, the median employer-account balance rose 31% for households 35 to 44 and 12% for 45 to 54, while the all-ages median rose 14% to $66,000 (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2022 and 2025).
| Age of household head | Share with account, 2022 | Share with account, 2025 | Median, 2022 (2025 dollars) | Median, 2025 | Real change in median | Real change in average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 42.0% | 42.8% | $16,400 | $14,000 | minus 15% | plus 1% |
| 35 to 44 | 51.1% | 52.5% | $46,000 | $60,000 | plus 31% | plus 23% |
| 45 to 54 | 54.8% | 54.6% | $98,500 | $110,000 | plus 12% | plus 20% |
| 55 to 64 | 42.8% | 50.0% | $136,800 | $133,000 | minus 3% | plus 2% |
| 65 to 74 | 19.9% | 23.4% | $175,100 | $130,000 | minus 26% | minus 13% |
| All households | 38.0% | 40.3% | $58,000 | $66,000 | plus 14% | plus 11% |
Source: Q3 tabulation of the SCF 2022 and 2025 summary extracts. The Fed re-issued the 2022 extract in 2025 dollars; the inflation factor is from Table A.1 of the Fed report Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025.
The falling medians for under 35 and 65 to 74 coincide with rising ownership. When more households hold an account, the newcomers usually hold small or new balances, which pulls the median down even if existing balances grew. Ownership for 55 to 64 households rose 7.2 points, from 42.8% to 50.0%, which fits that pattern. The 65 to 74 cells rest on 228 and 241 sample households, so a 26% median swing there carries wide uncertainty.
The Fed’s own report gives an anchor for the method. For the broader retirement-account measure that adds IRAs, the Fed reports a conditional median of $106,000 in 2025, up 11% from $95,200 in 2022; this tabulation reproduces both figures and also matches the Fed’s Table A means for IRA or DC holders by age ($48,400 under 35, $182,400 at 35 to 44, $415,800 at 45 to 54 and $670,200 at 55 to 64).
Why is Vanguard’s 55 to 64 median $107,269 when the Fed’s is $133,000?
Vanguard counts one account at one recordkeeper, while the SCF counts every employer account a household holds. Vanguard’s year-end 2025 data covers 4.6 million participant accounts in about 1,300 plans, and its age bands describe the individual participant, not the household (How America Saves 2026, “Highlights at a glance” and Figure 53).
| Age | Vanguard average, participants | Vanguard median, participants | SCF median, households (Q3) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 to 34 (SCF: under 35) | $50,261 | $18,732 | $14,000 |
| 35 to 44 | $120,742 | $46,919 | $60,000 |
| 45 to 54 | $214,991 | $78,730 | $110,000 |
| 55 to 64 | $305,006 | $107,269 | $133,000 |
| 65 and older (SCF: 65 to 74) | $330,186 | $103,202 | $130,000 |
| All | $167,970 | $44,115 | $66,000 |
Vanguard figures are year-end 2025 recordkeeping data; SCF figures are 2025 interview-date household balances. The two are different units and are shown side by side only to explain the gap.
Three differences explain most of the gap. A household with two working spouses shows up as one SCF record holding two balances, while Vanguard sees two participants. A worker with an old 401(k) at another recordkeeper appears in Vanguard’s file with only the current plan, but the SCF adds the former-job balance. Vanguard’s under 25 band (average $7,259, median $2,234) has no SCF equivalent large enough to report.
Other recordkeeper figures differ again. Empower reports an average of $406,242 from users of its online Personal Dashboard (data as of September 2026), a self-selected group that links accounts from several employers. None of these sources is wrong; each answers a narrower question than “what does a household of my age hold in 401(k)-type plans.”
What the data cannot tell you
The SCF does not identify a 401(k) as distinct from a 403(b), 457(b), Thrift Savings Plan or similar account. The Fed’s code (the SCF summary-variable macro) counts a current-job plan in THRIFT when it is a 401(k), 403(b), thrift, savings or SRA plan, or when the participant can borrow or withdraw, so “401(k)-type” is the honest label.
- Age is the age of the household’s reference person, not each account owner, so a spouse’s balance is counted in the head’s age band.
- The 2025 survey interviewed 4,360 households (21,800 implicate rows). Cells with fewer than about 100 sample holders, such as 75 and older (79) and under 25 (21), carry wide error.
- The five implicate ranges shown above capture imputation uncertainty only. Sampling error needs the Fed’s separate replicate weights, which this tabulation did not use.
- Balances are self-reported at the interview date in 2025, not December 31 statement values, and they do not split pre-tax from Roth dollars.
- Defined benefit pensions and Social Security are excluded, so a household with a pension and a small 401(k) can look under-saved here.
Method
Dataset: Federal Reserve Board, 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances summary extract (SCFP2025.csv, released October 9, 2026), and the 2022 summary extract as re-issued in 2025 dollars. Both files were read in place from their zip archives. Weights: WGT, which in the summary extract already sums to all U.S. families across the five implicate rows (134.96 million in 2025); every statistic uses all 21,800 rows with WGT and no further division.
Measure: 401(k)-type balance = THRIFT + FUTPEN + CURRPEN (current-job account plans, former-job account balances, account plans in payout), per the Fed’s bulletin.macro definitions. IRAs (IRAKH) are reported separately. Holders are households with a balance above $0; none were dropped. Medians and percentiles are weighted quantiles; averages are weighted means.
Validation: the same code reproduces the Fed’s published 2025 retirement-account ownership (54.9%), conditional median ($106,000) and mean ($451,100), the 2022 median in 2025 dollars ($95,200), and all four Table A means by age. Script: tab_average-401k-balance-by-age.py. Scenario rows use 2026 limits from the IRS and are hypothetical. Sources are primary documents and public data only; anonymous forum anecdotes were excluded because this is a financial topic.
How to cite this data
Q3 Advisors, “Average 401(k) Balance by Age: 2025 Federal Reserve Household Data,” https://q3adv.com/average-401k-balance-by-age/, November 8, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average 401(k) balance for a 65-year-old?
Households headed by someone 65 to 69 who still held a 401(k)-type account in 2025 had a median of $142,000 and an average of $445,200 (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025). Only 27.0% of those households still held one, because many had rolled balances into IRAs. Vanguard’s 65 and older participants averaged $330,186 at year-end 2025.
How much does the average 40-year-old have in a 401(k)?
For households headed by someone 40 to 44, the 2025 median 401(k)-type balance was $60,000 and the average was $175,200, among the 56.0% holding an account (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025). About 21.2% of those holders had less than $10,000. Benchmarks expressed as salary multiples are covered in a separate Q3 guide.
What percentage of Americans have a 401(k)?
In 2025, 40.3% of U.S. households held a 401(k), 403(b), thrift or similar employer account, about 54.4 million households (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025). Counting IRAs as well, 54.9% held a retirement account, the figure the Federal Reserve publishes in its October 2026 report.
Is the median or the average 401(k) balance more useful?
The median describes the middle household; the average is lifted by a small group of very large accounts. For households 55 to 64 in 2025, the average of $442,600 was 3.3 times the $133,000 median (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025). Vanguard notes its own average sits near the 75th percentile of participants.
Does a former employer’s 401(k) count in these figures?
Yes. The Fed’s FUTPEN variable holds account balances left in former employers’ plans, and this tabulation adds it to the current-job plan. In 2025, former-job balances were 21.2% of employer-account dollars for households 55 to 64 (Q3 tabulation, SCF 2025). Money already rolled into an IRA is not counted.
For age-based savings targets rather than observed balances, see how much to have in a 401(k) by age. Combined IRA and workplace totals by age are in retirement account balances by age.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional about your specific situation.
