401k Plan Statistics and Trends For 2026

This article compiles recent 401k data from major industry surveys, academic studies, and U.S. government sources such as the BLS, DOL, IRS, ICI, Vanguard, and PSCA. These figures reflect the latest information available at the time of publication.

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401k Participation and Coverage Statistics

Retirement plan access has grown steadily across the private sector, but coverage and participation still vary based on company size, plan type, and worker demographics. The figures below highlight how access to 401k and other retirement plans looks:

✅ Access to Retirement Benefits – As of March 2025, 72% of private-industry workers had access to retirement benefits. About 70% had access to defined contribution (DC) plans such as 401k plans, and 14% had access to traditional defined benefit (DB) pensions. (BLS)

✅ Access vs. Participation Gap – In the latest available BLS data (March 2025), 72% of private sector workers had access to a retirement plan, and 53% participated. (BLS)

✅ Growth in Defined Contribution Plans – Over the past decade-plus, access to defined contribution plans has generally increased, while access to defined benefit plans has generally declined in the private sector. (BLS)

✅ Coverage by Employer Size – As of 2025, 59% of employees at firms with fewer than 100 workers had access to a retirement plan. The rate rose to 86% for firms with 100–499 workers and 90% for those with 500 or more. (BLS, quoted by Primary News Source)

✅ Industries Maintaining Pensions – In 2025, 14% of all private-industry workers had access to DB pensions. (BLS)

✅ Union vs. Nonunion Coverage – Union workers had higher access and participation in retirement benefits overall than nonunion workers (91% access and 80% participation for union workers vs. 71% access and 50% participation for nonunion workers). (BLS)

✅ Scope of the 401k System – As of 2024, Americans held $9.3 trillion in 401k plans across more than 715,000 plans, serving about 70 million active participants (with additional millions of retirees and inactive participants). (Vanguard)

✅ Active Participation Levels – At year-end 2024, 401k plans held $8.9 trillion in assets for about 70 million active participants. (ICI)

✅ Plan Participation Rates – In Vanguard’s latest report, plans with automatic enrollment had a 94% participation rate, compared with 64% for voluntary enrollment plans. (Vanguard)

✅ Employee Engagement – According to PSCA’s 68th Annual Survey, about 87.4% of eligible employees were actively contributing to their 401k plans in the 2024 plan year, compared with 86.9% in 2023. (PSCA)

✅ Defined Contribution Plans Dominate – DC plans now cover about half of all private-sector workers, confirming their role as the primary retirement vehicle for most employees. (Vanguard)

✅ Workers Feeling Behind – A 2024 national survey found that 57% of workers believe they are behind on retirement savings, including 35% who feel significantly behind. (Bankrate)

401k Balance and Contribution Statistics

401k balances vary widely across workers, and the averages often mask large differences by age, income, and years of participation. The data below highlights current trends in savings behavior and contribution levels:

✅ Average vs. Median Balances – In Vanguard’s latest report, the median 401k balance was $38,176 and the average balance was $148,153. (Vanguard)

✅ Typical Employee Deferral Rates – The average employee deferral rate was 7.4% of pay, with a median of 6.2%, showing that most workers contribute a meaningful portion of their income toward retirement. (Vanguard)

✅ Combined Contribution Levels – When employer contributions are included, Vanguard participants saved an average total of 12% of pay in 2024, with a median of 11.5%. (Vanguard)

✅ PSCA Reported Savings Rates – According to PSCA’s most recent survey results, participants contributed an average of 7.7% of pay and employers added 4.8%, for a combined 12.5% savings rate of pay, reflecting the 2024 plan-year experience and slight declines from the 2023 levels. (PSCA)

✅ Impact of Automatic Enrollment – Plans with automatic enrollment reached an average combined savings rate of 12.3% of pay, compared with 7.4% for voluntary-enrollment plans. (Vanguard)

✅ Investment Allocation Trends – About 65% of 401k plan assets were invested in mutual funds. Roughly 97% of participants held some equities, and 68% used target-date funds for diversified, age-based investing. (ICI)

✅ Typical Investment Menu Size – The average 401k plan offered around 28 investment options, covering a range of U.S. and international stock funds, bond funds, and target-date options. (ICI)

✅ Risk Patterns by Age – According to ICI’s latest survey, participants in their 20s held about 90% of their 401k assets in equities and 66% in target-date funds. Participants in their 60s held about 57% in equities and 32% in target-date funds, reflecting increasingly conservative allocations near retirement. (ICI)

✅ Generational Balance Differences – As of 2025, millennials held an average of about $67,300 in 401k savings, compared with $192,300 for Gen X and $249,300 for baby boomers. Older generations have typically had more years to save and invest. (Investopedia)

✅ Age Gaps Within Millennials – Younger millennials (ages 25–34) averaged roughly $42,640, while older millennials (ages 35–44) averaged about $103,552 in 401k savings. (Investopedia)

✅ Defined Contribution Share of Total Retirement Wealth – In early 2024, U.S. retirement assets totaled nearly $40 trillion, with defined contribution plans, mainly 401k and 403(b) plans, representing about $11.1 trillion. (Planadviser)

✅ IRAs vs. 401k Assets – At the end of the third quarter of 2025, IRA assets totaled $18.9 trillion while 401k plans held $10 trillion. (ICI)

401k Features & Fees Stats

Modern 401k plans continue to evolve toward automatic participation, diversified investment options, and lower costs. The following data highlights how plan design and fees have shifted:

✅ Automatic Enrollment Adoption – In 2024, 61% of Vanguard-administered plans had automatic enrollment in place. Among large plans with 1,000 or more participants, the rate reached 78%, showing that auto features are now standard for many employers. (Vanguard)

✅ Automatic Escalation of Contributions – Roughly two-thirds of Vanguard auto-enrollment plans also included an automatic escalation feature that gradually increases employee deferral rates over time. (Vanguard)

✅ Higher Default Contribution Rates – In 2024, 61% of Vanguard auto-enrollment plans started new participants at 4% of pay or higher, up from 39% in 2014. This trend helps employees reach stronger savings levels earlier in their careers. (Vanguard)

✅ Shorter Waiting Periods – Nearly 76% of Vanguard plans allowed employees to begin making voluntary 401k contributions immediately upon hire in 2024, compared with 65% in 2014. (Vanguard)

✅ Roth 401k Availability – By the end of 2024, 86% of Vanguard plans offered a Roth feature and 18% of participants in those plans used Roth contributions. (Vanguard)

✅ Roth Options in Broader Surveys – PSCA news release reporting that 95.6% of plans offered Roth contributions at year-end 2024, highest in PSCA surveys to date. (PSCA)

✅ Roth Usage Among Participants – Despite widespread availability, only 21% of eligible participants made Roth contributions during the 2024 plan year. (PSCA)

✅ Target-Date Fund Popularity – Target-date funds continue to be the most common default investment option. By 2024, 97% of Vanguard-administered plans offered target-date funds, 85% of participants held at least some assets in them, and about 69% of target-date investors invested their entire account in a single target-date fund. (Vanguard)

✅ Managed Account Services – Managed accounts have become a standard feature in retirement plans: in 2024, about 45% of Vanguard DC plans offered managed-account advice services, including roughly 80% of larger plans, and PSCA’s 68th Annual Survey found that 55% of 401k plans provided managed account options. (Vanguard, PSCA)

✅ Declining Total Plan Costs – Among large 401k plans analyzed in the most recent BrightScope/ICI profile, the plan-weighted average total cost was 0.85% of assets, the participant-weighted average was 0.52%, and the asset-weighted average was 0.33%, with costs continuing a long-term downward trend as plan sizes and assets grow. (ICI)

✅ Lower Mutual Fund Expense Ratios – Mutual fund fees within 401k plans remain relatively low, especially for index funds. In 2024, 401k plan participants who invested in mutual funds paid an average asset-weighted expense ratio of about 0.26% for equity funds, with target-date fund expense ratios also near historic lows, highlighting how low-cost investing has become common in retirement plans. (ICI)

Employer Contributions and 401k Match Statistics

Employer contributions remain one of the biggest advantages of participating in a 401k plan. Most workers with access to a plan receive some level of company match or contribution, and these benefits continue to expand across employers.

✅ Widespread Employer Contributions – About 90% of 401k participants are in plans that include some type of employer contribution, making company-funded savings a core feature of modern plans. (ICI)

✅ Variety of Contribution Types – In 2024, about 50% of Vanguard-administered defined contribution plans offered only a matching contribution, 36% offered both matching and non-matching employer contributions, and 10% offered only a non-matching contribution such as profit-sharing. (Vanguard)

✅ Typical Employer Match Levels – The average employer match in Vanguard-administered plans equaled 4.6% of pay, with a median of 4.0%. (Vanguard)

✅ Non-Matching Contributions – Among plans that included a non-matching contribution, the average employer deposit was equivalent to 5.4% of pay, with a median of 4.4%. (Vanguard)

✅ Company Contributions Increasing Gradually – Employer contributions averaged about 4.8% of pay, a slight moderation from 2023 levels, helping many workers reach combined employee-and-employer savings rates in the 12–15% of pay range. (PSCA)

✅ Student-Loan Match Still Emerging – Although the SECURE 2.0 Act allows employer matching contributions on student-loan repayments, only about 1.9% of 401k plans had implemented a student-loan match by the end of 2024, showing that adoption of this optional feature remains very limited. (PSCA)

401k Withdrawals, Loans, and “Leakage” Statistics

Access to 401k funds before retirement can provide flexibility, but it also risks reducing long-term savings. These data points show how often participants borrow or withdraw from their accounts and how most assets still remain in the system.

✅ Loan Access vs. Borrowing Rates – About 84% of 401k participants can take a loan from their plan, yet only 13% had a loan outstanding at the end of 2022 (latest data available from ICI). For those who borrowed, loans averaged around 10% of their remaining balance, and total loans made up less than 1% of all 401k assets. (ICI)

✅ Loan Usage Slightly Declining – In the 2024 plan year, approximately 16.8% of participants had a 401k loan outstanding (down slightly from prior years), and loans continued to represent a small share of total plan assets (about 0.9%), indicating that borrowing remains limited overall. (PSCA)

✅ Average Loan Balances – Vanguard data show that 13% of participants carried a loan in 2024, with an average balance of roughly $11,000. (Vanguard)

✅ Hardship Withdrawals Increasing Gradually – In 2024, about 4.8% of 401k participants initiated a hardship withdrawal — up from 3.6% in 2023 — indicating a modest increase in the use of hardship provisions among participants. (Vanguard)

✅ Adoption of SECURE 2.0 Withdrawal Flexibility – Based on PSCA’s 68th Annual Survey of 401k Plans (2024 plan-year data), about 2.7% of participants took a hardship withdrawal, 70% of organizations offered natural-disaster withdrawal provisions, and more than half of plans provided qualified birth or adoption (QBAD) distributions, reflecting growing adoption of SECURE 2.0 optional withdrawal features. (PSCA)

✅ Most Assets Stay in the Retirement System – In 2024, roughly one-quarter of Vanguard participants were eligible to take a distribution after leaving an employer, and about 83% of those participants preserved their savings in a tax-advantaged account either by keeping assets in-plan or rolling them over. This retains approximately 97% of assets eligible for distribution. (Vanguard)

✅ Non-Contributors Still a Concern – Despite broad plan access, 23% of U.S. workers did not make any retirement contributions in 2024, indicating that a sizable share of workers remain disengaged from retirement saving despite availability. (Bankrate)

✅ Retirement Confidence Remains Low – A 2024 national study found that many workers doubt they can save enough for retirement, reflecting growing concern about reduced pension coverage and uneven access to employer plans. (NIRS)

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