Anyone watching the stock market’s response to world events this week may be feeling a little uncertain about their investments.
But if last year taught investors anything, it’s that volatility and dramatic drops in stocks from one day to the next are not reliable indicators of annual portfolio performance.
Despite extreme market volatility last year – especially in the spring of 2025 – the average 401(k) balance rose by 11% to $146,100, according to new data from Fidelity Investments, which analyzed nearly 25 million accounts.
It marks the third consecutive year that the average corporate workplace retirement account booked a double-digit percentage gain. That’s thanks not only to overall market performance but consistent savings habits by 401(k) participants, Fidelity noted.
The S&P 500, for instance, ended last year up 16.39% while the Nasdaq rose more than 20%. The S&P Aggregate Bond Index was up 2.91%.
Meanwhile, the average savings rate by participants was 14.2%, which was about the same as the prior year. That includes the average employee contribution rate (9.5% of their gross income) plus the average employer match (4.7%).
Of course, the average balance of $146,000 across all age groups saving for retirement isn’t that high.
But it is considerably above the median balance of $34,400. The median, of course, is the midpoint below which half of all account balances are lower. This particular stat is across all 401(k) participants, regardless of age and time spent saving, among other factors.
The results are better if you look at accounts where participants have been saving for at least 15 years. Their median balance was $377,700.
On the highest end of the balance spectrum, 665,000 accounts ended last year with balances of $1 million or more, up from 537,000 in 2024. Per Fidelity, among the $1 million-plus accounts, participants had been saving an average of 25 years.
That may be one reason why the majority of the million-dollar-plus accounts (60.3%) belong to Gen Xers – who were born between 1965 and 1980 and are next in line to retire. (Millennials’ accounts, by contrast, make up 4.1% of the million-dollar-plus club.)
How Gen Xers as a whole are doing, however, is a mixed bag. On the one hand, they saved an average of 15.4% of their gross income last year. That includes a tenth of the cohort who were making catch-up contributions, Fidelity said. (Anyone 50 or older last year was allowed to save an additional $7,500 on top of the $23,500 federal contribution limit – while those between the ages of 60 and 63 were given a higher catch-up limit of $11,250.)
But such catch-up contributions may be needed for far more Gen Xers, since their median 401(k) account balance was just $67,100. While some Gen Xers may still have a defined benefit pension coming to them, most won’t. They entered the workforce just as employers were starting to switch away from company pensions in favor of self-directed 401(k)s.
In honor of Women’s History Month, Fidelity broke out some data pertaining to women participating in 401(k) plans.
Their average 401(k) balance – $119,500 – was up 22% over the past five years – better than the 20% increase across all participant accounts during the same period. But their median 401(k) balance last year was just $29,400.
The good news is that many are saving more than before, with nearly 40% of women upping their savings rate last year – including 47% of Gen Z women.
And the average balance among women who have been saving for at least 15 years was $508,700, up from $453,500 in 2024.
