How your contribution rate stacks up with others your age

If you’re in your 30s, you’ve probably asked yourself, “Am I saving enough for retirement?” Between mortgages, childcare, and student loans, it can be difficult to find enough to take care of yourself in the future. However, this decade is pivotal: the earlier you save, the more compounded returns will be in your favor.

According to Fidelity and Vanguard, the average 401(k) balance for people in their 30s in 2025 ranges from about $74,000 to $103,000, while the median balance is closer to $22,000 to $40,000, a reminder that most savers are still building momentum.

Why are your 30s so important?

Your 30s represent a financial crossroads. This is the decade in which income typically grows steadily, and every additional dollar saved can multiply by retirement age through a mathematical snowball multiplier effect. Missing the opportunity now could mean working harder in your 40s and 50s to catch up later.

said RJ Weiss, Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and CEO of Ways to Wealth Investopedia These years often mean that you will have competing priorities such as children, household expenses, and even caring for elderly relatives. But consistency pays off in the long run. At the same time, you should try to get any one-time raises or lump sums you receive.

“One of the most important positions you can put yourself in during your 30s is the ability to save your raises. If you put 50% of each raise into savings and the other 50% into lifestyle, you can achieve a savings rate of 20% to 30% by your 40s,” Weiss said.

How you compare to others

Recent data shows that many workers in their 30s are saving what they can, even through economic ups and downs:

• Fidelity’s analysis for the second quarter, 2025, found that millennials (ages 28 to 43) have an average 401(k) balance of $74,800, up from earlier in the year.
• Vanguard reported a median balance of $16,255 for workers 25 to 34 and $39,958 for workers 35 to 44.
• The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies focused on those with middle-class incomes ($50,000 to $199,000) and found that they had an average of $65,000 saved in their household retirement accounts.
• On average, 30-year-old savers contribute 11% to 13% of their pre-tax income, including employer matches, to their savings.

This leaves a lot of savers behind the curve, but the result is no shame if your savings are below the above numbers – by definition, many people are below the average numbers.

How to promote your contributions

If you can’t meet the 15% goal, the good news is that there are things you can do to build momentum:

• Capture your full employer match: If you have a workplace retirement plan where your employer contributes additionally to your retirement savings, try to contribute enough to get the maximum match. This is free money, so don’t leave it on the table.
• Consider a Roth IRA: Tax-free withdrawals in retirement can give you more control over your future tax bill.
• Automate increments: Make a plan to increase your contributions by 1% each year, so you don’t feel like it’s taking too much of what you need for household expenses and the like.

Even small, automated increases can have a big impact, said Michael Lacivita, CFP at Domain Money. “If you raise your 401(k) contribution by just 2% to 3% each time you get a raise, you’ll capture that extra income in tax-deferred growth,” he said. “Set up automatic contributions to a brokerage account and invest in low-cost ETFs [exchange-traded funds] It can further accelerate long-term wealth building.