401(k) Balances in Your 60s: How Average and Median Savings Compare to Retirement Needs
401(k) Balances in Your 60s: How Average and Median Savings Compare to Retirement Needs
Katharine Paljug
7 min read
How much you need to retire depends on a variety of factors, particularly your lifestyle and your health. Credit: Getty Images
Key Takeaways
The average 401(k) balance for people in their 60s was $577,000 as of early 2026. The median amount saved was much lower, at $187,000.
How much you need to have saved for retirement will depend on your lifestyle and annual spending expectations. One rule of thumb is to save eight times your annual preretirement income by age 60.
When you hit your 60s and retirement is right around the corner, you might find yourself thinking a lot about your 401(k). How does what you have saved compare to other people your age? And how much do you really need for retirement?
While it can be tempting to compare your savings to your peers, how much you need to have saved will depend on when you plan to retire and what you want that retirement to look like.
401(k) Savings in Your 60s: The Average and Median Balances Explained
According to Empower, the average 401(k) balance for someone in their 60s was about $577,000 as of February 2026. This balance was lower than the $629,000 average 401(k) balance for those in their 50s, likely because some people in their 60s have already retired and begun taking 401(k) distributions.
Averages can be easily skewed: Just a few 401(k)s with very high (or very low) balances can drastically impact the average. That’s why the median, or middle-of-the-road, figure is important. The median amount for people in their 60s was $187,000.
How Much Do You Need to Retire?
If you’re looking at these numbers and worrying about how your own retirement savings compare, you’re not alone. According to a survey by Western & Southern Financial Group, 47% of Baby Boomers (who make up the majority of those in their 60s, as the oldest members of Generation X turned 60 in 2025) are not confident in their ability to retire comfortably.
The same survey clearly identified why: Baby boomers believe they need an average of $760,000 saved to retire comfortably. Gen X expects to need even more, at $1.18 million. Average and median 401(k) savings for those in their 60s are far below these amounts.
How much you need to retire depends on a variety of factors, particularly your lifestyle and your health. Rather than looking solely at averages, it’s helpful to look at your personal situation to determine how much you need to save.
One retirement savings rule suggests having eight times your preretirement annual income saved by age 60. So if you make $75,000 per year, you would need $600,000 saved by age 60.
Another calculation is based on the 4% rule, which suggests that retirees withdraw 4% of their 401(k) in their first year of retirement, then adjust this for inflation in each following year. Following this rule would mean you need to have 25 times your annual expenses saved. So if you expect to spend $36,000 a year in retirement, you will need to have $900,000 saved.
Keep in mind that most retirees don’t live on their 401(k) alone. Most retirees in the United States receive Social Security benefits. You may also have investments, an individual retirement account (IRA), or even a side hustle that you plan to continue in retirement to supplement your 401(k) savings.
The Western & Southern survey found that 90% of Baby Boomers and 71% of Gen X expect to rely on Social Security as their primary retirement income, whereas only about half of Millennials and Gen Z (55% and 51%, respectively) do.
5 Ways to Boost Retirement Savings
If you’re in your 60s and your 401(k) isn’t where you want it to be, here’s how to boost your 401(k) savings in the last few years before you retire.
1. Make Catch-Up Contributions
In 2026, the annual limit for 401(k) contributions for many people is $24,500. If you’re in your early 60s, though, you can put away even more. If you are age 60 to 63, you can make additional catch-up contributions of $11,250, for a total of $35,750. If you are age 64 or older, your catch-up contribution limit is $8,000, bringing your total to $31,000 in 2025.
2. Use Workplace Benefits
Alexa Kane, a certified financial planner at Pearl Planning, recommends that anyone approaching retirement get as much as they can out of their workplace retirement benefits.
“If your employer offers a match on retirement contributions, contribute enough to get the full match,” she said, even if you’ve never maxed out your employer match before.
Kane also suggested automating savings to take the guesswork out of retirement contributions.
“Many retirement plans can be set up to automatically increase contributions by a percentage annually,” she said.
3. Reallocate Assets
In general, investors tend to hold more stocks in their 401(k)s when they are younger, taking on more risk in exchange for more growth. It’s common to shift to a more conservative balance of stocks, bonds, and other assets as you near retirement. If your 401(k) is invested in a target-date fund, then this shift happens automatically.
If you’re in your 60s but feel like you aren’t on track with your savings, don’t immediately shift everything to conservative assets. Prioritizing growth for a few more years may help your 401(k) increase significantly in this decade. As you get closer to retirement, a gradual shift toward bonds and away from stocks will help protect your assets.
Tip
A financial planner can assess what asset allocation is best for you and advise you on when that allocation needs to change.
4. Consider Downsizing Now
If you are part of the 51% who plan to downsize in retirement, consider downsizing your living situation now instead. Downsizing before you retire can significantly decrease your living expenses by reducing costs such as:
Property taxes
Home maintenance and repair
Homeowners insurance
Utility bills
If you are strategic about where you move, you can even prioritize things like access to public transportation, which can further reduce your living expenses by allowing you to drive less or own fewer cars.
Decreasing your living expenses can allow you to put more into tax-advantaged retirement accounts now, giving the money time to grow. This can be especially helpful if you are trying to max out your catch-up contributions in your early 60s, when you can put even more into your 401(k) pretax.
5. Work With an Advisor
Working with a financial advisor as you approach retirement can help you figure out not just how much money to save, but also what kind of retirement you want and how you can make that happen.
“There are many pictures of retirement,” Kane said. “And with any retirement plan, we say, ‘You can do anything, but not everything.’ There are pros and cons for every decision.”
Working with an advisor can help you think through your options and what tradeoffs you might have to make for certain choices. For example, many retirees like the idea of living abroad to get access to a lower cost of living, including cheaper healthcare. But the choice isn’t just between a more expensive life in one country and a more affordable life in another.
“A large international move requires careful planning and an understanding of associated laws and regulations,” Kane said. “You are still required to file U.S. taxes while living abroad. You also need to understand the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) and the Foreign Tax Credit (FTC).”
A financial advisor can walk you through all these considerations and help you decide what kind of retirement makes sense based on your resources and priorities.
