Retirement Savings by Generation: Why the Numbers Never Match

The Fed, Vanguard, and Transamerica all publish retirement savings numbers every year, and they rarely agree. Here's what each one is actually measuring, and what the real generational gap looks like once you account for it.

Search "average retirement savings" and you'll find a $333,940 average sitting next to an $87,000 median, a $167,970 average 401(k) balance next to a $44,115 median one, and a claim that 54% of Americans have no dedicated retirement savings at all — all from legitimate sources, all published within the same year or two of each other. None of these numbers are wrong. They're measuring different things, pulled from different populations, using different methods — and once you know which is which, the actual generational gap becomes a lot clearer than the headlines make it look.

1. Three data sources, three different populations

Almost every retirement statistic you'll see traces back to one of three types of sources, and they don't survey the same people:

• The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF): a household interview survey conducted every three years, covering all U.S. households — including the roughly half that have no dedicated retirement savings whatsoever. This is the broadest, most representative source, and also the one with the lowest numbers, because it includes everyone.
• Vanguard, Fidelity, and Empower "How America Saves"-style reports: these use actual account data from people who already have a 401(k) or IRA on their platform. Anyone with a zero balance simply isn't in the dataset, because they don't have an account to report. This structurally inflates the numbers relative to the population as a whole.
• Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies: a large, worker-focused survey that asks people to self-report their savings. It's more current than the Fed's triennial survey but relies on people estimating their own balances, which introduces its own noise.

None of these are "the wrong number." A $333,940 average retirement balance and a 54% figure for Americans with zero dedicated retirement savings can both be true at the same time, from the same Fed dataset — they're just answering different questions.

2. The generational numbers, source by source

Here's what the most recent data actually says, by generation and by source:

• Under 35: median $18,880, average $49,130 (Federal Reserve, 2022 SCF — most recent available)
• 55 to 64: median $185,000 (Federal Reserve, 2022 SCF) — the highest median of any age bracket
• 75 and older: median $130,000 (Federal Reserve, 2022 SCF) — lower than the 55-64 bracket, which reflects retirees spending down savings, not a generational shortfall
• All households, overall: median $87,000, average $333,940 (Federal Reserve, 2022 SCF)
• Not-yet-retired, middle-class households: median $67,000 (Transamerica Center, 2025 research)
• 401(k) accountholders, year-end 2025: average $167,970, median $44,115 (Vanguard, How America Saves 2026)
• IRA accountholders, Q4 2025: average $137,095, up 7% year over year (Fidelity)

Notice how every 401(k)/IRA figure sits well above the Fed's broader household numbers for the same age groups — that's the "already-saving-only" sample bias showing up directly in the data, not a contradiction between sources.

3. The gap that doesn't show up in the dollar figures

Transamerica's 2025 research found something the dollar amounts alone don't capture: 73% of baby boomers report having additional retirement savings outside a workplace plan, compared to 65% of Gen X, 69% of millennials, and 65% of Gen Z. The rate of people saving anything at all outside an employer plan is fairly similar across generations — it's not that younger generations have stopped trying to save. The dollar gap mostly comes down to time. Someone in their 60s has had three or four decades of contributions and compound growth; someone in their 20s or 30s hasn't, no matter how disciplined they are.

4. Why the average-vs-median gap keeps widening at older ages

The spread between the average and the median grows the older the age bracket gets — a modest gap under 35, a much wider one from 55-64 onward. That's not a data error. It reflects how retirement wealth actually concentrates over a working life: a relatively small share of households with unusually large balances (executives with substantial 401(k) and equity compensation, business owners, multi-decade high savers) pull the average further and further above the median as more time passes for that concentration to compound. The median is almost always the more representative number for what a "typical" household in that age group actually has — the average tells you more about the top of the distribution than the middle.

5. What this means if you're trying to benchmark yourself

These national figures are a reasonable sanity check, but they're a poor substitute for your own number. A household in a low-cost area planning a modest retirement and a household in a major metro planning to maintain an expensive lifestyle can both be "on track" at wildly different balances — the national median tells you nothing about either one specifically. If you want a benchmark that's actually useful, it needs to start from your own expected expenses and retirement age, not a cross-sectional average built from millions of very different households.

Where our calculator's numbers come from

The retirement savings calculator on this site asks for your own expenses, savings rate, and timeline rather than benchmarking you against a national average — for exactly the reason this article lays out. National medians and averages are useful for context, but they're built from households with completely different retirement plans than yours.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do different retirement savings reports show such different numbers?

They're measuring different populations. The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances counts every U.S. household, including the roughly half with no dedicated retirement savings at all, which pulls the median down. Vanguard and Fidelity only report on people who already have an account with them — so their numbers only describe people who are already saving, which pushes the average up.

What is the median retirement savings by age in the U.S.?

According to the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (the most recent available), median retirement savings were $18,880 for households under 35, rising to $185,000 for households aged 55 to 64, then dropping to $130,000 for households 75 and older as people draw down savings in retirement.

Why is the average retirement savings so much higher than the median?

A relatively small number of households with very large balances pull the average up substantially. The Fed's 2022 data put average retirement savings at $333,940 against a median of $87,000 — the median is generally the more representative number for a typical household.

Which generation is doing best on retirement savings?

By dollar amount, baby boomers hold the most, simply because they've had the most years to save and are closest to or already in retirement. But Transamerica's 2025 research found boomers are also more likely to have additional savings outside a workplace plan (73%) compared to Gen X (65%), millennials (69%), and Gen Z (65%) — suggesting the gap isn't purely about age.

Is $67,000 in retirement savings normal for someone not yet retired?

It's close to typical, at least by one measure. Transamerica's 2025 research put median total household retirement savings for not-yet-retired middle-class households at $67,000. Whether that's "enough" depends entirely on when someone plans to retire and what their expenses will look like, which is a different question from what's typical.

Should I compare my own retirement savings to these averages?

Cautiously. These figures are useful for a rough sense of where you stand, but your actual target should come from your own expected expenses and retirement age, not a national average built from very different households. Our retirement savings calculator uses your real numbers instead of a benchmark.