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Gen X Retirement Savings: How Typical Balances Compare to Recommended Benchmarks

Daniel Liberto

Wed, September 16, 2026 at 1:05 AM GMT+3 5 min read

Key Takeaways

• About 4 in 10 Gen X households have no retirement savings, according to federal data.

• Gen X households with retirement accounts have a median balance of $100,000—well below many common benchmarks.

• Many Gen Xers can still close some of the gap by saving more, working longer, or delaying Social Security.

Americans born from 1965 to 1980 entered the workforce just as employers were moving away from guaranteed company-funded pensions and shifting more retirement responsibility to workers through 401(k) plans. In many ways, Gen X became the test case for that shift—and unlike younger workers, many didn't fully benefit from later 401(k) improvements such as auto-enrollment and automatic contribution increases.

Now, with the oldest Gen Xers turning 61 this year, the data offers a clearer look at how this generation has fared under this country's do-it-yourself retirement system.

Why This Matters

Gen X is the first generation approaching retirement largely without traditional pensions. Its savings gap shows why workers may need to track their own progress closely, especially as retirement approaches.

What the Federal Reserve Data Shows

The most striking number in the Fed's data isn't a dollar figure. It's the share of Gen X households with no retirement savings at all.

According to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances (2022), 62% of Gen X households have some form of retirement savings. That means almost 4 in 10 have nothing saved for retirement so far.

For those who do have retirement accounts, the Fed data shows how much older and younger Gen X households have saved to this point.

The median is the middle value—half of savers in each group have less than the figure shown, and half have more—making it a good estimate of the typical household. The mean, on the other hand, is the total savings divided by the total number of savers, and it's higher because a relatively small number of very large balances pull the average up.

That makes the median more useful for understanding where most Gen Xers stand. And those numbers are low compared with widely cited benchmarks. Fidelity, for example, recommends having six times your salary saved by age 50 and eight times your salary saved by age 60.

The national average salary was almost $70,000 in 2024. Multiply that by six and you get $420,000. Multiply it by eight and you get $560,000.

Why Some Gen X Retirement Savings Estimates Look Much Higher

More recent data from major retirement plan providers paints a somewhat better picture, but it comes with an important caveat: It mostly reflects people who are already participating in workplace plans or actively tracking their finances.

That matters because those workers are often among the better-prepared Gen Xers. They may be employed by larger companies with stronger benefits, more consistent access to retirement plans, or more generous matching contributions.

Vanguard reported that workers ages 45 to 54 in its defined contribution plans had a median balance of around $67,800 at the end of 2024, while those ages 55 to 64 had a median of roughly $95,600. Those figures cover 401(k)-style accounts, while the Fed's survey includes all retirement savings vehicles.

Empower, meanwhile, tracks all of an individual's different retirement accounts, like the Fed. But its data comes only from people who use its Personal Dashboard—a self-selected group likely to be more financially engaged than the average Gen Xer.

As of March 2026, Empower reported a median balance across all retirement accounts of about $332,200 for Gen X dashboard users. For workplace plans specifically, customers in their 50s had a median 401(k) balance of approximately $246,600.

How Much Gen X May Need Saved for Retirement

Experts differ on the exact number the average person needs to retire comfortably, and the answer depends heavily on household income, expenses, health, debt, housing costs, and expected Social Security benefits.

Still, common benchmarks show how far many Gen Xers may have to go. Fidelity recommends having ten times your salary saved by age 67, while Merrill Edge suggests targeting 80% to 90% of your pre-retirement income annually for however long you expect to live in retirement.

Another widely cited figure is $1 million, which stems from the 4% rule. That guideline suggests withdrawing 4% of your savings in the first year, then adjusting for inflation each year after that, to help your money last at least 30 years. With $1 million saved, that would mean $40,000 in first-year retirement income, before factoring in Social Security.

The problem with all these benchmarks is that they assume everybody is in the same situation. A relatively healthy individual with no debts or mortgage and a bigger-than-average Social Security check arguably won't need as much as someone renting in an expensive city who started claiming Social Security at 62.

What the data makes clear, however, is that for the typical Gen Xer, the gap between current balances and any of these targets is substantial. Even Empower's median figure of $332,200, pulled from a self-selected group of active savers, falls well short of the $1 million mark.

But there is still time to catch up, or at least narrow the gap. Most Gen Xers still have a decade or more in the workforce, and maximizing contributions, working a few extra years, and deferring Social Security can all help you retire more comfortably.

Read the original article on Investopedia