---
title: 'Average 401(k) Balance by Age - 2026 Edition'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=3db5MyGIUBE'
video_id: '3db5MyGIUBE'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 866
---

# Average 401(k) Balance by Age - 2026 Edition

> Source: [Average 401(k) Balance by Age - 2026 Edition](https://youtube.com/watch?v=3db5MyGIUBE)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive breakdown of average and median 401(k) balances by age group, based on Vanguard data for 2026. It highlights the impact of automatic enrollment, offers age-specific advice, and emphasizes behavioral finance principles to improve retirement savings.

### Key Points

- **Report Overview** [00:01] — The video presents average and median 401(k) balances by age range, discusses changes from recent years, and offers tips for each age bracket.
- **Under 25: Balances Up** [00:15] — Average balance rose from $6,899 to $7,259; median from $1,948 to $2,234. The increase is attributed mostly to market performance rather than behavior change.
- **Automatic Enrollment Advantage** [00:54] — Automatic enrollment leads to higher contribution rates (10.3% vs 8% voluntary) and significantly higher balances over time. By year 10, automatic participants have $220k vs $133k for voluntary.
- **Why People Don't Enroll Voluntarily** [02:16] — Vanguard identifies three reasons: lack of planning skills, indecision, and laziness. Automatic enrollment solves these issues.
- **Tips for Under 25** [03:11] — Enroll in 401(k), take advantage of employer match, invest in S&P 500 fund, and ensure emergency fund and high-interest debt are handled first.
- **Ages 25-34: Balances and Tips** [03:50] — Average balance $50,261, median $18,732. Tips: increase contributions with raises, don't cash out when changing jobs, consider Roth 401(k), avoid lifestyle inflation.
- **Ages 35-44: Balances and Tips** [06:09] — Average $120,000, median $46,919. Aim for 3x salary by 40. Avoid 401(k) loans, fund retirement before kids' college.
- **Ages 45-54: Balances and Tips** [07:55] — Average $214,991, median $78,730. Use catch-up contributions at 50, prioritize retirement, and note new Roth catch-up rule for high earners.
- **Ages 55-64: Balances and Tips** [10:23] — Average $305,006, median $107,269. Aim for 8x salary by 65. Use super catch-up (60-63), de-risk portfolio, plan social security timing.
- **Ages 65+: Balances and Tips** [12:58] — Average $330,186, median $103,202. Have a withdrawal plan, remember RMDs at 73, and stay partially invested.

### Conclusion

The video underscores the importance of automatic enrollment and consistent contributions, while providing age-specific benchmarks and strategies to optimize retirement savings.

## Transcript

report on the average and median 401k balances by every single age range. So, share that with you, we're also going to talk about what's changed from recent years and the best tips that I can give you for every single age bracket.
if you're in this age range, you probably have just a few years of work under your belt. So, your 401k is probably really fresh. And what's surprising about this year is that the average balances are up year over year.
So, last year it was $6,899 and this year it's $7,259. Also, the median balance is up as well. So, last year it was $1,948 and this year it is $2,234. This could be from people saving more,
yes, but honestly I think that when you have an average and median balance going up that much in a single year, I do think that it's mostly the market doing the heavy lifting, not the actual behavior change. Now, the single biggest
behavior that drives 401k balances being higher is simply called automatic data. The voluntary contribution rate for someone under the age of 25 is 8% while the automatic is 10.3%. That means if someone is earning $50,000 per year,
they are contributing somewhere between $4,000 to just over $5,000 per year in their 401k balances and this includes the employer match. Automatic enrollment hired, employers automatically put these employees in their 401k plan and they're
told, "Hey, you can quit this plan if you would like, but if you do nothing at all, you're still participating in the 401k and your money is being invested." hand is when you join a company and then you have to decide for yourself if you
would like to join voluntarily their 401k plan. Looking at the data here though, those with automatic enrollment plans generally do a lot better in their 401k and you can see this exhibited by this bar chart right here. New employees
in automatic enrollment start with lower balances, but that reverses rather quickly and by years two and three, automatic enrollment participants have higher balances. And then by year 10 and onwards the gap is really huge. It's
220k versus 133k. So, if automatic enrollment is proven to do so well, then sadly just comes down to the employer. So, if the employer doesn't automatically put their employees in a 401k plan, then it's up to that person
not. And through behavioral finance research, Vanguard has found that there are three possible explanations as to why those in voluntary plans don't opt for a 401k. The first is lack of planning skills. Some employees are not
it very difficult to delay gratification. The second is indecision. So, many people who are faced with complex choices, they often just go for the easiest decision, which is no decision at all. So, in a voluntary
plan, that means they aren't signing up for a 401k. And the third is just simply lazy and would rather kick the can down the road and so people never get around to joining that plan. What I think is really fascinating is that a person
but if they're automatically enrolled, that just solves a lot of their issues. behavior is when it comes to growing your retirement balances. So, anytime you can automate anything when it comes to your finances, the better. So, if
the age of 25, here are my three biggest takeaways. First, at this age, you definitely want to enroll in a 401k and take advantage of any company match that sure you know what you're investing in
within the 401k. So many times I chat with someone in their 20s or their 30s may not fit their appropriate risk profile. In general, an S&P 500 fund is a good place to start if your 401k plan offers it. And third, at this age, you
personal finance is taken care of as well. So, make sure you have that emergency fund and any high interest debt is taken care of before you contribute to a 401k. All right, so the next age range is 25 to 34 and in the 25
to 34 age range, the average 401k balance in this group is $50,261 and the median is $18,732. And the average and median balances are up quite a bit from the previous year as well. The voluntary contribution rate in
this group is 9.9% and the automatic is 11.9%. So, it is definitely higher across the board than someone under the age of 25. Now, this age range is actually very wide. So, someone at the age of 25 with 50k in their 401k is very
different than someone who say age 34 with 50k in their 401k balance. If you're 25 with $50,000, you can reasonably expect that your 401k, without ever touching it again, will grow to a balance of $1.086 million by
the time you're 65. If you're 34 with $50,000, that balance is $543,000, which surprisingly is still a lot higher than what the average and median balances are at the age of 65, which we will discuss later on in this video. The
biggest takeaways for this age bracket are the following. So, first, I would 401k and try to increase the amount you contribute either every time you get a raise or at least every 2 years. If you can automate the increase, that's even
better. That way you can hit a target savings rate of 15% in a few years without ever having to make the physical decision to actually save more. Second, do not cash out your 401k if you ever change jobs. So, roughly 51% of people
in their 20s and 43% of people in their 30s, they'll cash out their 401k when they leave a job. And if you were doing this, you were leaking long-term money. 401k, I would definitely consider that because at this age range, you're likely
going to be in a lower tax bracket than the rest of your career. So, if you pay Roth 401k, that means your balance is going to grow tax-free for 35 to 40 Most plans will offer a Roth option these days, but just double-check with
your provider. Lastly, stay away from lifestyle inflation. It's the one thing that can prevent you from contributing more as you get raises. So, instead of whenever you get extra money, I would first think about how you can set aside
some extra money towards investing first and then buy these shiny objects with any remaining money after that. All right, ages 35 to 44 is now here and in this age range, the average balance of the 401k is now $120,000
and that's up from $103,000 last year. The median is 46,919 up from $39,958 last year and average contribution rates are between 10.6 to 12.3% which is
pretty much flat from last year. When you hit this age range, you have about 20 to 30 years left before traditional retirement age. And it's at this point is, you can either course correct if you don't think you're on track or if you're
contributions, you might be able to think about retiring early. A big takeaway is that you should have roughly three times your salary saved by the age of 40 according to Fidelity. So, if you are under this amount, I think this is
really the time to try to increase your savings rate. A 2 to 3% increase in savings at the age of say 38 will compound much harder than trying to scramble for some extra money at age 55. The next action item here is to not
range, you have a lot of things to balance, buying a home, saving for your kids college fund and even thinking about spending money on a wedding. About 13% of plan participants have a loan outstanding against their 401k and the
real trap here is that if you leave or you lose a job with that loan withdrawal which means that you pay taxes and an early 10% withdrawal penalty. So, if you are going to borrow money for something, I would choose
anything but the 401k. The third action item at this age range is to make sure you can take care of yourself first before funding your kids college 529 like in an airplane where they say you need to put on your oxygen mask first in
going to lend you money when you're trying to retire comfortably. With loans for your kids, so I would just say fund your 401k first, then fund the 529 other way around. All right, let's get
into the age range of 45 to 54 now. So, by this age range, the average 401k balance in America is $214,991, and the median here is $78,730. It's at this age range that the balances are starting to get a little bit skewed
in my opinion. So, a lot of people that are earning a lot in their 30s and 40s, they've been able to max out their 401ks consistently, and these balances are going to skew the averages upwards. The average contribution rate sits between
11.2% for voluntary and 12.8% for automatic. So, you can easily see that contribution rates throughout life don't really increase by a ton. That means once people set their 401ks up at a young age, their habits don't really
change too much. Fidelity suggests that by age 55, you should have roughly 7 retirement. So, that means if you're earning, say, $100,000 per year at the age of 55, you should have 700k saved at least for retirement, which is clearly
balance. The big takeaways for you here from the mid-40s to early 50s are the moment that you turn 50, you should turn on catch-up contributions. In 2026, the standard 401k contribution limit is
24.5k, but once you're over the age of 50, you can add an extra $8,000 for 50, you can add an extra $8,000 for 32.5k total. If you have the means to do Number two is that this is the decade that is not only your highest earning
decade, but the big expenses are hopefully finishing up. Your kids might be finishing college, the mortgage is probably further along as well. So, the you have should go towards retirement before you use it for funding your
lifestyle right now. Number three is brand new for 2026. If you're a high earner, so someone making over $150,000, be slightly different. Quote, "If you earn more than 150k in the prior
contributions to a workplace plan at age 50 or older will need to be made to a that means if you earn that much in wages, any catch-up contribution must go
to the Roth option, and this is also the same for a 403b or a 457b plan. That just means you don't get an upfront tax deduction anymore, but the good news is is that most employers will offer this Roth option now. And lastly, at this age
annual spending is. We want to know what our annual spend is because as we near number, and we're going to project out how much we actually need in retirement using the 4% rule. We'll talk a little bit about that in the next section,
which is the ages of 55 to 64. And speaking of that age, the average 401k balance here is $305,006, and the median is $107,269, and the average contribution rate sits
between 12.8% and 14.3%. By the time you're 65, you should aim to save at according to Fidelity. And so, if you median balance is at this age, that's honestly pretty scary because the
1/10 of what they should have. But before you think that's all doom and gloom, you should know that these are just 401k numbers only, so these balances don't include the IRAs, brokerage accounts, home equity, or any
spouse's savings as well. Another caveat is that these Fidelity multiples also income basically on its own. But you want to consider that most people have social security, and the average payment in America for that is about $2,000 a
month. So really, your portfolio just needs to bridge the gap between what payments and your annual expenses. Ideally, your portfolio size is about 25 times your annual expenses by the time you retire because that will allow you
to withdraw without running out of money in retirement, and that's the equivalent of the 4% rule. So, if your annual expenses are 50k per year, you just multiply that by 25, that's the rule, and your required portfolio is 1.25
million. This portfolio size will allow you to withdraw 4% of it, or 50k per year in retirement without ever running out of money, technically. The big goals at this age are the following. So, number one, if you are between the ages
of 60 to 63, you can take advantage of what's called the super catch-up. This allows you to contribute $11,250 as a catch-up contribution. So, when you add that to your 401k contribution limit, that's $35,750
in a single year. This is a 4-year window, so 60, 61, 62, and 63, that you can take advantage of, but it has the same rules as the last section, which is that if you earn more than 150k per year, then any catch-up contributions
need to go to a Roth account. Number two is that this is the decade to really de-risk your portfolio. So, while when you're young, a 30% crash might be just fine, if you're 63 years old and you encounter a 30% crash, you may not have
for it. Number three, you want to figure out your social security timing. If you take payments early at age 62, you only get 70% of the full benefit, but if you're able to delay until age 70, you
get 124% of your full benefit by doing so. If you are between the ages of 55 to 64, this is really the time to consider when meet with a financial planner or a professional to solidify your plan. All
right, ages 65 and up. Now, let's look at their average 401k balance. It's $330,186, and the median is 103,202. The median previous bracket, and that's because people at this age, they're starting to
take money out of their accounts. So, for 50 years, you've been putting money in, and the hardest part now is how to take it out and not run out of money. guys at this age range are the following. Number one, you want to have
a withdrawal plan, whether that's the 4% rule, or even a little bit more. You just need to project out how much and when you will take distributions of your funds. Number two, don't forget about RMDs or required minimum distributions.
So, starting at the age of 73, the IRS forces you to withdraw a minimum every single year from traditional 401ks and IRAs. Roth accounts are excluded from this, which is the nice part, but if you have a traditional 401k or an IRA, just
don't forget about this rule. And number three, at this age, I think you still want to stay partially invested because if you went 100% in cash at the age of 65, that can feel safe, but if you live to the age of 100, you're still going to
hopefully this video was helpful. It is my goal to get you guys way ahead of all enjoyed this video, you would really like this one on how much you can spend in retirement at a 250k, 500k, 750k, and $1 million portfolio size. I'll see you
the channel. Let me know what your 401k balance is down below, and thank you. balance is down below, and thank you. Peace.