It's helpful to know the average retirement savings of your peers because, let's face it, your friends won't volunteer their numbers. As you near the end of your career, you'll want to be in at least as strong a financial situation as others your age so you can afford to vacation together or even move to the same retirement community. Most of all, it's a crucial step to ensure you're saving enough for the kind of retirement you want.
Calculating your retirement savings is easier than determining your net worth. You don't need to subtract liabilities like your mortgage from the equation. Instead, you can start by checking the balances of any IRA and 401(k) accounts you have. Then include the balances of HSAs and your after-tax accounts, such as Roth IRAs, mutual funds and brokerage accounts, as if they were all one “retirement portfolio.” You may already know your numbers if you have a financial adviser or financial software that aggregates your accounts.
To get a sense of where you stand relative to your peers, we've assembled the average retirement savings and the median retirement savings for your age.
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Average retirement savings: mean vs median
When there are wide variations in income and savings within a given group, as is the case in the U.S., it's essential to look at both kinds of averages: mean and median. You might have to harken back to sixth-grade math to recall that "mean" is what we typically think of as "average," and "median" is the "middle" value in a range of numbers. When we look at retirement savers, the enormous wealth of individuals like Warren Buffett can make our overall retirement savings appear healthier than they actually are for the typical American. So, we focus here on both numbers, but particularly the median.
Over half of American households (54%) report having no dedicated retirement savings, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). Yet the total 401(k) savings rate increased slightly to a record 14.3% in Q1 2025. These seemingly contradictory numbers indicate that the gap between non-savers and savers is growing. That gap can further distort what you can learn from average (mean) retirement savings balances, unlike comparing those actively saving in a 401(k) or IRA against other plan participants and contributors.
Let's examine the mean and median retirement account balances by age, as reported by the Federal Reserve.
Total mean and median retirement savings by age
One of the most anticipated moments in life after marriage and parenthood is retirement. Similar to other key milestones in life, this is a decision filled with joy, relief, fear and anxiety. It will come of no surprise that a lot of the anxiety comes from a fear of outliving their retirement assets. The “magic number” American's think they need to retire comfortably in 2025 is $1.26 million, while that's $200K less than the $1.46 million figure from 2024 it's still a far cry from what most people have socked away in their various retirement accounts.
As you can see from the table below, the median retirement savings for those aged 55-64 ($185,000) and 65-74 ($200,000) are far below that $1.26 million "magic number."
Age | Median Savings | Mean Savings |
|---|---|---|
Less than 35 | $18,800 | $49,130 |
35-44 | $45,000 | $141,520 |
45-54 | $115,000 | $313,220 |
55-64 | $185,000 | $537,560 |
65-74 | $200,000 | $609,230 |
75 and over | $130,000 | $462,410 |
Table Source: Federal Reserve: Survey of Consumer Finances, 2023.
For more details on specific retirement accounts, consider the average 401(k) and IRA balances in the table below.
Age | 401(k) balance | Age | IRA balance |
|---|---|---|---|
25-29 | $24,000 | Row 0 - Cell 2 | Row 0 - Cell 3 |
30-34 | $45,700 | 29-44 | $25,019 |
35-39 | $73,200 | Row 2 - Cell 2 | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
40-44 | $109,100 | Row 3 - Cell 2 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
45-49 | $152,100 | 45-60 | $103,952 |
50-54 | $199,900 | Row 5 - Cell 2 | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
55-59 | $244,900 | Row 6 - Cell 2 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
60-64 | $246,500 | 61-79 | $257,002 |
65-69 | $250,100 | Row 8 - Cell 2 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
70+ | $250,000 | Row 9 - Cell 2 | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
How Americans save in retirement accounts
Retirement assets accounted for 34% of all household financial holdings in the U.S. as of December 2024. The $44.1 trillion national nest egg grew by $2.5 trillion from the first quarter of 2024. The majority of IRA balances come from 401(k) rollovers. Here's how these funds were allocated, according to the Investment Company Institute.
Kind of account | Total assets in trillions of US Dollars |
|---|---|
Annuities | $2.5 |
Private sector plans or pensions | $3.3 |
Government sector plans or pensions | $8.9 |
401(k)s and similar plans | $12.4 |
IRAs | $17 |
Total | $44.1 |
How to catch up
If you are behind in saving for retirement, you aren't alone. You are ahead of 54% of people who admit to having no retirement savings whatsoever. Whether you need to make up for lost time or want to build a cushion against inflation or unexpected expenses, it's never too late to do something now. Every dollar you set aside will grow as you continue to work toward retirement.
Here are three ways to build up your retirement portfolio:
- Invest for growth. Saving is great. Everyone should have an emergency fund. But you need to invest to grow your money to meet your financial needs in retirement. You need investments that provide a rate of return above the rate of inflation to help ensure you can maintain your lifestyle after you stop working. A diversified mix of investments could help you reach your goals more quickly over very safe investments. Risk tolerance is personal but there are "age-appropriate" investments that moderate risk as you approach retirement.
- Increasing your savings rate whenever possible: Any extra money you can put into your retirement accounts will help you close the gap in your current savings and your goal. Increasing your contribution when you get your annual raise is an easy way build your account without seeing a reduction in your take-home pay. After you turn 50 you can add more to your IRA or 401(k) per year with catch-up contributions. There are super-catch provisions for those aged 60 to 63
- Consider saving in both a 401(k) and an IRA: Make sure to contribute enough to get the entire available 401(k) match; if your investment options are minimal, consider an index or target-date fund. If you max out your 401(k) contribution limit — great! Either way, opening an IRA gives you an avenue to invest more and seek out different investment options. You can open a traditional or Roth IRA, depending on your income, to complement your 401(k) investments
Social Security as part of your retirement portfolio
Social Security is an important component of your retirement portfolio and the age at which you claim your benefits will impact the size of your benefit for the duration. Full retirement age (FRA) is between 66 to 67, depending the year you were born. Claiming your benefit before your FRA will reduce your benefit; claiming at age 62 will result in an almost 30% reduction. If you wait beyond your FRA, your benefits will be bigger; you earn an additional 2/3 of 1% for every month you wait and can increase your benefit by 32% by waiting until age 70. In recent years the average claiming age has been trending higher. Many older employees stay on to keep employer provided health care
An unavoidable reality is the Social Security trust fund is going to be insolvent by 2033 and would begin reducing benefits in 2035. The 17% cut could upend your retirement financial plan depending on how much you rely on that source of income. The people at Pension Bee did the math and concluded that workers would need to save an additional $100,980 to make up the difference.
So far, no politician or political candidate has put forth a serious plan to head off the impending shortfall. The two most recent administrations have only advanced proposals that will speed up the insolvency. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law by President Biden, is expected to accelerate the exhaustion date for the trust funds by approximately six months, according to the Congressional Budget Office. President Trump campaigned on eliminating all income taxes on Social Security benefits; the taxes on benefits go into the trust funds that pay current beneficiaries. A reduction to this revenue stream would exacerbate the trust fund's woes if implemented.
In 2023, the Social Security trust funds were credited with $50.7 billion from the taxation of Social Security benefits, or 3.8% of the trust funds' total income. Also in 2023, income to the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund received $35.0 billion, or 8.4% of the trust fund's total income from the taxation of Social Security benefits.
The One Big Beautiful Bill did not include a full repeal of income taxes levied on Social Security benefits; instead, it provides some people over 65 with an increased standard deduction to offset the taxes paid on benefits. Individuals with a Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) of $75,000 or less, and married filers with a MAGI of $150,000 or less, would receive an additional $4,000 deduction per filer. This enhanced deduction would be in addition to the $2,000 single filers and $3,200 married filers are currently able to deduct if they are 65 or older.
Get the full story: what you're worth
Want to see how more of your retirement portfolio compares to peers? Read:
The Average 401(k) Balance by Age,
The Average Social Security Check by Age, and
The Average IRA Balance by Age.
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