Almost all of us have asked some version of the same question: Am I on track for retirement?
Two numbers go a long way toward answering it. The first is how much you’re saving right now. The second is how much you’ve actually built up so far. It can help to see how both compare to folks in your own age group.
Recently, Vanguard looked at how everyday Americans are saving across different age groups in the 25th edition of the firm’s How America Saves report, which is based on data from nearly 5 million people in defined-contribution plans, such as 401(k)s, for which Vanguard provides recordkeeping services.
How much people your age are saving
In retirement-plan terms, your deferral rate is the percentage of your pay that you contribute yourself — not counting whatever your employer adds through a match. In 2025, the average employee deferral rate was 7.6%. Once you include the typical employer contribution, the average total saving rate climbed to about 12.1%.
One clear pattern is that people save more as they get older, as their incomes rise and retirement starts to feel real.
Here’s the average employee deferral rate by participant age as of Dec. 31, 2025, according to Vanguard data:
- Under age 25: 5.5%
- Ages 25-34: 6.7%
- Ages 35-44: 7.2%
- Ages 45-54: 7.9%
- Ages 55-64: 9.3%
- Age 65 and older: 10.1%
Those are the rates for what employees set aside on their own. Add a typical match of a few percentage points, and most age groups are saving well into the double digits. Steady saving like that compounds into a balance over time, which brings us to the second number.
How much people your age have saved
It’s key to note the distinction between average and median here. The average is a sum of all account balances that’s divided by the number of accounts. So a few high-balance accounts can skew the number higher. The median — generally the better representation of a typical saver — is the midpoint, where half of savers have more and half have less.
You can see the gap in the data. Across all Vanguard participants, the average account balance at the end of 2025 was $167,970, while the median was just $44,115.
Here are the average and median account balances by participant age, according to Vanguard data, as of Dec. 31, 2025:
- Under age 25: $7,259 average / $2,234 median
- Ages 25-34: $50,261 average / $18,732 median
- Ages 35-44: $120,742 average / $46,919 median
- Ages 45-54: $214,991 average / $78,730 median
- Ages 55-64: $305,006 average / $107,269 median
- Age 65 and older: $330,186 average / $103,202 median
Keep in mind that these figures reflect a single Vanguard account. Many people also have IRAs, old 401(k)s from past jobs, or a spouse’s savings — so your full retirement picture may be larger than any one balance suggests.
And if you’re behind where you’d like to be, the first list points to the most powerful lever you have: the share of your paycheck you save.
Read more about Vanguard’s findings in “How Much of Your Savings Should Be in Stocks? Here’s What Americans Your Age Do.”
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