The average Roth IRA held $57,450 at the end of tax year 2023, according to IRS Statistics of Income data, ranging from $12,586 for owners in their late 20s to $134,039 for owners 70 and older. Median retirement savings across all account types was $87,000 per household in the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances.
Key takeaways
- IRS data for tax year 2023 puts the average Roth IRA at $57,450 across 29.3 million taxpayers. Traditional IRAs average $225,413, almost four times more, mostly because 401(k) rollovers land in traditional accounts.
- True median Roth-only balances by age are not published anywhere. The Fed's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances medians ($87,000 overall, $185,000 for ages 55 to 64 among families with retirement accounts) cover all retirement accounts combined.
- Averages run two to four times higher than medians at every age because a small number of very large accounts pulls the mean up. If you are benchmarking against FIRE, the median is the wrong yardstick entirely.
- Someone who maxed a Roth IRA every year since it launched in 1998 has put in $139,000 in contributions through 2026. At a 7% return that account sits near $345,000 today; at 10%, past $540,000. That is the realistic ceiling for contributions alone, before conversions.
- The 2026 Roth IRA contribution limit is $7,500 ($8,600 if 50 or older), and direct contributions phase out between $153,000 and $168,000 of income for single filers and $242,000 to $252,000 for joint filers (IRS, November 2025).
What the data does and does not cover
Be skeptical of any article quoting a precise "median Roth IRA balance by age." No institution publishes one. Here is what actually exists:
- IRS Statistics of Income (Form 5498 data, tax year 2023, published from matched tax records): average, not median, Roth IRA fair market value by age. This is the only Roth-specific, age-bracketed dataset, and it covers essentially every Roth owner in the country.
- Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances (2022, released October 2023): median and average balances by age for all retirement accounts combined (IRAs plus 401(k)s and similar), among families that have at least one such account. It does not break out Roth IRAs by age.
- Fidelity's quarterly retirement analysis (Q1 2026): average IRA balance of $131,380 across 19.6 million Fidelity IRA accounts, up 7% year over year. No age or Roth-only breakdown of balances, but Roth IRAs took 67% of all IRA contributions at Fidelity that quarter, and Roth conversions rose 41% year over year.
- Vanguard's How America Saves 2025 (2024 plan data): 401(k) and other defined contribution balances by age, average $148,153 and median $38,176. Not IRA data, but the cleanest published look at how far medians sit below averages.
The 2024 version of this page, like most of what ranks for this query, blended those sources into invented "median Roth" ranges. The tables below keep each source separate.
Average Roth IRA balance by age (IRS, tax year 2023)
Average end-of-year fair market value per taxpayer, from IRS SOI Table 8 (tax year 2023):
| Age | Average Roth IRA | Average traditional IRA |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25 | $6,392 to $7,242 | $9,315 to $57,482* |
| 25 to 29 | $12,586 | $9,992 |
| 30 to 34 | $20,964 | $19,079 |
| 35 to 39 | $29,871 | $38,689 |
| 40 to 44 | $40,594 | $65,410 |
| 45 to 49 | $46,131 | $106,831 |
| 50 to 54 | $54,572 | $149,406 |
| 55 to 59 | $65,379 | $214,117 |
| 60 to 64 | $72,027 | $289,052 |
| 65 to 69 | $90,028 | $357,902 |
| 70 and over | $134,039 | $334,461 |
| All ages | $57,450 | $225,413 |
*The under-20 traditional average is inflated by a tiny population (34,543 taxpayers) that includes inherited IRAs.
Two things stand out. First, Roth balances grow slowly and steadily with age because they are built almost entirely from annual contributions capped at a few thousand dollars a year. Second, traditional IRA balances explode after 40 because that is where decades of 401(k) rollovers accumulate. The Employee Benefit Research Institute has documented this pattern for years in its IRA database: rollover-funded accounts dwarf contribution-funded ones. A $60,000 Roth at 55 does not mean its owner is behind; their real retirement money is usually sitting in a traditional IRA or 401(k) next door.
Median retirement savings by age (Federal Reserve SCF, 2022)
For medians you have to zoom out to all retirement accounts combined. From the Fed's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, among families that have retirement accounts:
| Age of household head | Median | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $18,880 | $49,130 |
| 35 to 44 | $45,000 | $141,520 |
| 45 to 54 | $115,000 | $313,220 |
| 55 to 64 | $185,000 | $537,560 |
| 65 to 74 | $200,000 | $609,230 |
| 75 and over | $130,000 | $462,410 |
| All families | $87,000 | $333,940 |
Note what the averages do here: at ages 55 to 64 the average is $537,560 against a median of $185,000, a 2.9x gap. Retirement wealth is heavily concentrated, and the mean is dragged up by exactly the kind of accounts FatFIRE readers are building. Vanguard's plan data shows the same shape: for participants 55 to 64, the average defined contribution balance is $271,320 but the median is $95,642 (How America Saves 2025).
The FIRE benchmark: ignore the median
If you are on a fat FIRE path, the median saver is not your peer group. The more useful question is what a maxed-out Roth IRA looks like, because that is a hard ceiling set by the IRS, not by income.
The Roth IRA opened in 1998. Cumulative contribution limits from 1998 through 2026 total $139,000 for someone always under 50. Compounding each year's maximum contribution at 7% puts that account near $345,000 in 2026; at 10%, above $540,000. So a mid-career professional with a $300,000 to $500,000 Roth IRA built from direct contributions is not merely above average, they are near the mathematical limit of what direct contributions allow. Anything materially beyond that came from conversions.
That is why serious Roth balances at the high end are conversion stories. The famous outlier is Peter Thiel, whose Roth IRA grew from under $2,000 of PayPal founder shares in 1999 to more than $5 billion by 2019, per ProPublica's 2021 reporting on IRS records. You will not replicate that, but the mechanism available to you is the same wrapper: money moved into Roth grows and comes out tax-free, with no required minimum distributions during your lifetime.
For high earners the playbook is standard. Above the phase-out you cannot contribute directly, so you run a backdoor Roth IRA every January: nondeductible traditional contribution, immediate conversion. Fidelity's Q1 2026 data suggests the crowd has caught on, with Roth conversions up 41% year over year and Roth IRAs taking 67% of all IRA contributions. In years your taxable income dips, before RMDs or during an early-retirement gap, larger conversions from your traditional balances move money into the Roth column at low brackets. That is how six-figure Roth accounts become seven-figure ones.
Where you hold the account matters less than filling it, but fees and match programs are not nothing; our Robinhood vs Fidelity Roth IRA comparison covers the tradeoffs, including Robinhood's IRA match.
2026 contribution rules
- Contribution limit: $7,500, or $8,600 with the age-50 catch-up (IRS, November 2025).
- Direct Roth contributions phase out from $153,000 to $168,000 of modified AGI for single filers, $242,000 to $252,000 married filing jointly. Above that, the backdoor route remains open.
- No required minimum distributions from your own Roth IRA, ever. Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s require distributions starting at 73 (age 75 for those born in 1960 or later).
How to actually use these benchmarks
Check your Roth balance against the IRS averages for a reality check on the wrapper, not on your retirement. Then benchmark your total retirement assets against the SCF average for your bracket, not the median, since the average is closer to describing households with real portfolios. If your Roth specifically looks thin relative to your net worth, that is usually a planning gap rather than a savings gap: you have been accumulating in pre-tax and taxable accounts and leaving the tax-free bucket underfilled. The fix is mechanical (backdoor contributions every year, opportunistic conversions in low-income years), and the earlier it starts, the more of your compounding happens tax-free.
For the wider sequence, drawdown, and account-location picture, start with our retirement planning hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average Roth IRA balance?
The average Roth IRA held $57,450 at the end of tax year 2023, across 29.3 million taxpayers, per IRS Statistics of Income data. It ranged from $12,586 for owners aged 25 to 29 up to $134,039 for owners 70 and older. Traditional IRAs average $225,413, almost four times more, mostly because 401(k) rollovers land in traditional accounts.
Is there a published median Roth IRA balance by age?
No, true median Roth-only balances by age are not published anywhere. The only Roth-specific, age-bracketed dataset is the IRS's average, not median, figures. For medians you have to use the Fed's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, which covers all retirement accounts combined at $87,000 overall, not Roth IRAs alone. Be skeptical of any precise median Roth by age figure.
Why are average retirement balances so much higher than medians?
Averages run two to four times higher than medians at every age because a small number of very large accounts pulls the mean up. At ages 55 to 64, the Fed's data shows an average of $537,560 against a median of $185,000, a 2.9 times gap. Retirement wealth is heavily concentrated, so for FIRE benchmarking the median is the wrong yardstick.
What is the maximum a Roth IRA can hold from contributions alone?
Someone who maxed a Roth IRA every year since it launched in 1998 has contributed $139,000 through 2026. At a 7% return that account sits near $345,000; at 10%, above $540,000. So a $300,000 to $500,000 Roth built from direct contributions is near the mathematical limit, and anything materially beyond that came from conversions.