BofA: average 401(k) balance rose 13% in 2025 to $113,590

The average Bank of America retirement account balance ended 2025 at $113,590, up 13% from $100,300 at the end of 2024, according to the bank's Participant Pulse research. 401(k) Specialist reported the figures in late February; the 2024 average was itself up from $86,000 in 2023. Contribution rates held steady through the fourth quarter at an average of 7.2%.

Accounts in plans offering auto-enroll or auto-escalate averaged $170,000, $50,000 more than plans offering neither. The figure compares different plan populations rather than tracking the same participants before and after a design change, so it is a gap between plan types rather than a measured return on adding a default.

Borrowing against plan balances eased in the fourth quarter, with 2.3% of participants holding a loan, down from 2.6% in the third quarter. The average loan was $9,300, roughly level with $9,500 three months earlier, and the share of borrowers in default slipped to 10.4% from 10.6%. Fewer than 1% of participants, 0.77%, took a hardship distribution in the quarter, at an average of $5,440 versus $5,360 in the third quarter.

Health savings account balances rose to $5,600 at year-end from $5,030 a year earlier, and the number of accountholders who contributed more than they withdrew rose 36% year to date. Most still use the money for current costs: 72% of respondents said they spend more of their contributions on daily healthcare needs than they save, against 28% who save.

The $113,590 average is below the $30,000 gain President Donald Trump said in his State of the Union address that accounts had posted since he took office, 401(k) Specialist noted.