Retirement Savings by Age Calculator
Your retirement accounts against the Fed's 2022 SCF
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This only adjusts the 2022 survey figures for inflation. It does not estimate current retirement balances. The Fed's own 2022-dollar figures use CPI-U-RS, not this CPI-U conversion.
The SCF counts a family's accounts together, so a couple should enter both partners' balances.
Your retirement savings
$55,000
Age group
35 to 44
Have an account
61.5%
Your percentile
55th to 60th
61.5% of families aged 35 to 44 had a retirement account in the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances. Among them, the median balance was $45,000 and the average $141,500, in 2022 dollars. Yours is between the 55th and 60th percentile of those savers, and higher than about 72% to 75% of all families aged 35 to 44, counting the 38.5% with no retirement account.
Median, 35 to 44
$45,000
Among families with an account
Average, 35 to 44
$141,500
Mean among families with an account
No retirement account
38.5%
Share of families aged 35 to 44
Retirement savings percentiles, families aged 35 to 44 with an account
| Percentile | Balance |
|---|---|
| 10th | $4,000 |
| 25th | $14,400 |
| 50th (median) | $45,000 |
| You (55th to 60th) | $55,000 |
| 75th | $177,000 |
| 90th | $412,000 |
| 95th | $560,000 |
| 99th | $1,249,000 |
The 75th percentile is the balance that 75% of savers in this age group are at or below. Percentiles are computed from the Fed's public 2022 SCF data with its official weights; the median and average above are from the Fed's published tables. In 2022 dollars.
By the Coast FIRE Calculator editorial team · Methodology · Official sources: Federal Reserve: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2019 to 2022 (October 2023 SCF report); Federal Reserve: the same report as a PDF (Table 3 and the retirement account definition in Appendix B) · Sources checked September 28, 2026 · Corrections: hello@coastfirecalculator.io
Average and median retirement savings by age (2022)
The Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) reports what share of families have a retirement account, and the median and average balance among those that do. Balances are family totals, and age is the age of the family's reference person.
| Age | Have an account | Median balance | Average (mean) balance | No account |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 49.6% | $18,600 | $49,200 | 50.4% |
| 35 to 44 | 61.5% | $45,000 | $141,500 | 38.5% |
| 45 to 54 | 62.2% | $115,000 | $313,200 | 37.8% |
| 55 to 64 | 57.0% | $185,000 | $537,700 | 43.0% |
| 65 to 74 | 51.0% | $199,600 | $609,400 | 49.0% |
| 75 or older | 41.8% | $129,500 | $462,400 | 58.2% |
| All families | 54.3% | $86,900 | $334,000 | 45.7% |
Median and average among families with an account, in 2022 dollars. From the Fed's SCF historical tables based on internal data (Table 6) and Table 3 of its report "Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2019 to 2022" (October 2023). The Fed notes that the means have not been reviewed for robustness and may be sensitive to outliers. Checked September 28, 2026. In August 2026 prices, using the BLS consumer price index (CPI-U), the all-family median of $86,900 would be about $99,500.
Retirement savings percentiles by age
The Fed does not publish percentiles of retirement account balances. These are computed from the Fed's public 2022 SCF data file with the survey's official weights, among families that have an account. The computation reproduces the published public-data holding shares for every age group, and the medians and means for groups under 75; the 75-or-older differences are explained below.
| Age | 10th | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th | 99th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $1,800 | $6,000 | $18,900 | $60,000 | $130,800 | $356,000 |
| 35 to 44 | $4,000 | $14,400 | $45,000 | $177,000 | $412,000 | $1,249,000 |
| 45 to 54 | $5,000 | $30,000 | $115,000 | $362,000 | $855,000 | $2,393,000 |
| 55 to 64 | $13,100 | $49,000 | $185,000 | $630,000 | $1,518,000 | $4,000,000 |
| 65 to 74 | $17,400 | $77,000 | $200,000 | $629,000 | $1,550,000 | $6,360,000 |
| 75 or older | $15,000 | $53,000 | $131,000 | $425,000 | $1,020,000 | $5,000,000 |
2022 dollars, rounded to $100. The public file differs from the Fed's internal data: some values are altered and seven families are removed for privacy, and the internal tables include additional weighting adjustments. The 50th percentile here differs from the published median by $0 to $1,500. For the 75 or older group the Fed's public-data table shows $130,000; that table was made before the Fed's April 3, 2024 correction of a few account values, and the corrected file gives $131,000. The top percentiles rest on few interviews: about 6 of the 613 surveyed families under 35 have a balance at or above the 99th percentile for their age.
What the SCF counts as retirement accounts
The Fed's definition covers accounts that move with you between jobs and that you will eventually be able to withdraw:
- IRAs and Keoghs: Roth IRAs, rollover IRAs, traditional and other IRAs, and Keogh plans, for everyone in the family.
- Employer accounts on a current job: any plan with an account balance in your name, such as a 401(k), 403(b), 457, SEP, SIMPLE, money purchase or thrift savings plan (including the federal TSP), plus any other current job plan you can borrow from or withdraw from.
- Accounts from past jobs: balances left with a former employer that the family expects to receive in the future, and account-type plans already paying out.
Two big sources of retirement income are left out: Social Security and traditional (defined benefit) pensions that pay a monthly amount based on years of work and pay. The Fed does not count them because turning a future income stream into a present value depends on assumptions about work, pay, inflation, interest rates and life span. Savings for retirement held in ordinary brokerage or bank accounts are not in these figures either; they are part of net worth.
Average 401(k) balance by age
The SCF tables do not give 401(k) balances on their own: a family's 401(k)s are added to its IRAs and other retirement accounts. The closest official figure for "average 401(k) balance by age" is therefore the combined balance in the table above. Families aged 55 to 64 with an account had a median of $185,000 and an average of $537,700, and families under 35 a median of $18,600.
The mean is 2.6 to 3.6 times the median, lowest for families under 35 and highest for families aged 75 or older, because a few families have very large balances. The median is the better guide to a typical saver. And the balances describe only the families that have an account; in 2022, 50.4% of families under 35 and 58.2% of families 75 or older had none.
Retirement savings by age, 2019 and 2022
| Age | Have an account, 2019 | Have an account, 2022 | Median, 2019 | Median, 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 45.3% | 49.6% | $15,100 | $18,600 |
| 35 to 44 | 55.8% | 61.5% | $69,600 | $45,000 |
| 45 to 54 | 57.9% | 62.2% | $115,900 | $115,000 |
| 55 to 64 | 54.5% | 57.0% | $154,700 | $185,000 |
| 65 to 74 | 48.1% | 51.0% | $190,100 | $199,600 |
| 75 or older | 37.7% | 41.8% | $96,200 | $129,500 |
| All families | 50.5% | 54.3% | $75,300 | $86,900 |
Both years in 2022 dollars, so the change is after inflation, from the Fed's historical tables based on internal data (Table 6). The share of families with an account rose in every age group between the two surveys. The median among savers rose in the under 35, 55 to 64, 65 to 74 and 75 or older groups and fell in the 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 groups; at 35 to 44 it went from $69,600 to $45,000.
About the Survey of Consumer Finances
The Federal Reserve Board has run the SCF every three years since 1989. For 2022 it interviewed 4,602 families, including an extra sample of wealthy families drawn from tax records, and weighted the answers to represent 131.3 million U.S. families. Account balances are as of the interview; most interviews took place between May and December 2022, and 25% between January and April 2023.
To see where your savings could go from here, the 401(k) calculator and the Roth IRA calculator project account growth, and the FIRE calculator shows how much you need to stop working.
Sources
- Federal Reserve: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2019 to 2022 (October 2023 SCF report)
- Federal Reserve: the same report as a PDF (Table 3 and the retirement account definition in Appendix B)
- Federal Reserve: Survey of Consumer Finances (2022 survey data and documentation)
- Federal Reserve: SCF historical tables based on internal data, 2022 dollars (Table 6)
- Federal Reserve: SCF 2022 summary extract public data, CSV (source of the percentiles by age)
- Federal Reserve: SCF historical tables based on public data (used to check the percentile computation)
- Federal Reserve: SCF summary extract program (retirement account definition, RETQLIQ)
- Federal Reserve: SCF 2022 codebook (IRA and pension plan questions)
- Federal Reserve: SCF recent changes (April 3, 2024 corrections to the extract)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: CPI-U, all items, U.S. city average (series CUUR0000SA0)
Figures checked September 28, 2026. CPI-U: 2022 annual average 292.655, August 2026 334.98.