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Retirement savings by age can show how workplace account balances compare, but they cannot tell you whether your own retirement is funded. Vanguard’s 2026 report provides average and median balances for different age groups using year-end 2025 data. Read both figures, check whose accounts are included, and compare them with your own spending needs.
- Average balances are higher than median balances in every age group shown.
- Workplace-plan data do not capture every American or every retirement asset.
- The observation year matters more than the date of a headline.
- A retirement funding review needs income, expenses and account details, not just an age ranking.
What are retirement savings balances by age?
According to Vanguard’s How America Saves 2026, the following figures describe participant account balances in the defined-contribution plans it recordkeeps. They reflect the end of 2025, not an estimate of account values in October 2026.
| Participant age | Median balance | Average balance |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25 | $2,234 | $7,259 |
| 25–34 | $18,732 | $50,261 |
| 35–44 | $46,919 | $120,742 |
| 45–54 | $78,730 | $214,991 |
| 55–64 | $107,269 | $305,006 |
| 65 and older | $103,202 | $330,186 |
Across all participants in the report, the average balance was $167,970 and the median was $44,115. These are observations about a specific group of retirement-plan participants, not suggested balances that everyone needs to reach.
A person who recently changed jobs might have a small current workplace account and substantial savings elsewhere. Someone else might hold most retirement savings in the account shown, making an identical balance mean something quite different.
Why is the average so much higher than the median?
The average reflects all balances in the group, including its largest accounts. The median identifies the middle of the distribution: half of participants have a higher balance and half have a lower one.
Large accounts can pull the average well above the balance of the middle participant. That is why a headline about an average does not describe what a typical person necessarily has saved.
Which comparison is more useful?
The median offers a clearer reference point for the middle of the group. The average adds information about the distribution, but neither measure evaluates whether the participants can cover their retirement expenses.
Age narrows the comparison without making people financially identical. Earnings, years with an employer, access to a workplace plan and the ability to contribute all influence account balances.
Being below the median does not establish a funding shortfall on its own. Being above it does not establish financial readiness either; the missing question is what income the household will need.
Do these figures include all your retirement savings?
No. A workplace recordkeeping study is not a complete inventory of each participant’s financial life. It also does not represent adults who are outside the plans studied.
The Federal Reserve’s October 2023 report on the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances illustrates why definitions matter. Its retirement-account category covers IRAs and certain employer-sponsored accounts at the family level, rather than using Vanguard’s participant-account population.
That report describes a conditional median of $86,900 and a conditional mean of $334,000 for families with retirement accounts, expressed in 2022 dollars. “Conditional” means those balance measures apply to families holding the asset, not to every family.
Those figures cannot be substituted directly for Vanguard’s age table. The population, account coverage and measurement period differ; an apparent disagreement between reports may simply reflect different questions.
What belongs in your own inventory?
A personal review can distinguish current workplace accounts, old employer plans, IRAs and savings earmarked for retirement outside those accounts. Pension income belongs in the income review rather than being treated as an accessible account balance.
If an old job’s account is missing from your records, this guide to tracing lost retirement benefits explains where to start. Counting what already exists makes the comparison more meaningful without assuming that every asset is readily spendable.
How can you turn an age comparison into a useful review?
Start with the question the table cannot answer: what would your household need to pay for after work income stops? Housing, healthcare, debt payments and dependents can make otherwise similar households need different retirement incomes.
- Collect statements from the same general period and identify which accounts belong to each household member.
- Separate investment balances from expected recurring income, such as a pension or Social Security benefit.
- List anticipated essential expenses and discretionary spending separately.
- Review contribution arrangements, employer matching terms and account costs.
- Revisit the review when employment, household needs or retirement timing changes.
Account costs deserve attention because a balance alone does not reveal what you pay to maintain it. Our guide to finding and reviewing 401(k) fees explains how to inspect those charges.
Retirement timing can also create expenses that an age benchmark ignores. If leaving work before Medicare eligibility is part of the plan, the separate issue of health insurance before 65 merits its own review.
A comparison can prompt useful questions, but it is not a reason by itself to take more investment risk. Vanguard’s investment disclosures warn that investments can lose money; a larger desired balance does not remove that risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The median describes the middle participant in the population studied, not the amount needed to finance retirement. A household’s required resources depend on expenses, retirement timing, other income and financial obligations. It is a comparison point, not a personalized spending plan or a statement that the middle participant has enough.
A current workplace balance may reflect only part of your saving history. Previous employer accounts, IRAs or other assets can sit elsewhere, while job changes and contribution interruptions can affect the account shown. Check your complete inventory before interpreting an age-group comparison as evidence that something is wrong.
No. The Vanguard table uses year-end 2025 participant balances published in its 2026 report. A report’s publication year and the period measured are different things. Market movements, contributions and withdrawals after that observation date can change balances, so these figures are historical reference points rather than live account estimates.
No. An above-average account can still be insufficient for a household with high spending needs or limited other income. A smaller account may sit alongside pension income and other resources. Retirement readiness requires reviewing those pieces together, including investment uncertainty, rather than relying on a position in a savings table.
Informational content only, not financial advice.
