This Is the Average 401(k) Balance by Age -- How Do Your Retirement Savings Compare?

How well does your retirement nest egg stack up against that of your peers? It's not necessarily the most important question an investor can ask. Not everyone has the same need, after all. And it's possible that most people aren't saving enough.

Nevertheless, as a starting point for updating your savings plan, it can be helpful to know how you compare to other people around your age.

To this end, here's a closer look at how much the average person in each generation has tucked away in their employer-sponsored 401(k) plan.

Image source: Getty Images.

How each generation's retirement savings stack up

The data comes from mutual fund giant and retirement plan administrator Fidelity. Based on a review of the 24.8 million participants in the 26,200 corporate retirement plans it oversees, here's the average of how much each generation has saved in their 401(k) accounts as of the end of 2025.

Data source: Fidelity (as of end of 2025).

There's nothing particularly surprising about the progressive growth evident from these youngest to oldest participants; older workers have had more time to contribute more of their income to their retirement accounts. They've also just had more time to grow the cash they've put into these workplace-sponsored tax-deferring vehicles.

That being said, it's worth highlighting the huge savings gap between millennials (currently aged 30 to 45) and Generation X (aged 45 to 60 right now). The latter group has been earning their peak income for a few years now, and has also paid off some of life's biggest debts like student loans, and in many cases, even their homes; they've got the income and assets outside of their 401(k) accounts that younger people just don't have yet. This has always been an important age range for asset growth for all generations. That's why you shouldn't be discouraged if you're one of many millennials who's feeling behind -- you'll eventually have your high-growth phase, too.

All the same, you'll still want to begin your middle-aged years with as much investable money as you can. Every dollar invested in the stock market today should be worth more than $6 in 20 years.

You should also know that the numbers in the table above are more than a little misleading in and of themselves. While they're accurate mathematical averages, they're averages that are skewed higher by a small handful of very big 401(k) account balances. Most people haven't saved up anywhere near these amounts.

Fidelity didn't offer this detail in its recently published Q4-2025 snapshot of how much its customers have saved up in their 401(k) plans, but rival fund company and retirement plan administrator Vanguard did give us a relatively recent and more realistic glimpse of how most savers are actually faring with their retirement plans. In its 2025 "How America Saves" report based on 2024 data, Vanguard's median -- or midpoint -- account value for all major age groups was consistently about one-third of the average 401(k) account balance for those same groupings.

Data source: Vanguard (as of end of 2024).

It's likely that Fidelity's 401(k) plan participants' median balances are also about one-third of the average balance cited above for each generation.

There's still one more data set to consider, however, before coming to any major conclusions about how you compare to your peers. That's how much each generation has saved up in ordinary IRAs (individual retirement accounts) outside of employer-sponsored plans. Here's how folks are faring with these accounts, on average.

Data source: Fidelity (as of end of 2025).

Although Fidelity didn't indicate how many of these individual retirement account owners were also reflected in its 401(k) numbers, at least some overlap is likely. On the other hand, given that about 4 out of every 10 employees working in the United States doesn't have access to any sort of workplace retirement plan, this IRA-specific data may reflect most -- if not all -- of what a significant number of workers are saving on their own.

Neither Fidelity nor Vanguard reported any such information about their customers' IRA balances, either. However, as was the case with 401(k) accounts, it's reasonable to assume this average IRA balance is also skewed higher by a small number of huge account balances, with a median or midpoint figure that's markedly lower than this average.

Get specific about you

You've got more saved up for retirement than most of your peers? If so, then great! Just don't celebrate too much without first checking whether you'll actually have enough for you when you retire -- outsaving the rest of your generation doesn't inherently mean you'll be able to afford the retirement you're dreaming of.

You've got less saved up than other people your age? Don't sweat that too much just yet, either. Unless your retirement is right around the corner, you can probably still do more than you might think to close the gap. It might take some meaningful sacrifices now, but it will be worth it in the end.

No matter where you are, improving your situation starts with a clear, specific, written plan for doing so. Start with the small things you know you can do. Ways to make the bigger things happen start becoming more evident once you get the ball rolling.

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.