--- title: The Number of 401(k) Millionaires Is Back on the Rise as Account Balances Surge description: As the stock market rallied, the number of 401(k) millionaires is back on the rise due to surging retirement account balances. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 501 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-08-18T17:45:37.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T13:45:17.000Z' section: Retirement tags: - News word_count: 484 canonical: https://money.com/401k-millionaires-back-on-rise/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo illustration of a young investor using his laptop](https://img.money.com/2023/08/News-Young-investors-open-IRAs-401k-millionaires-rising.jpg?crop=0px%2C228px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85) The number of people who can claim the coveted “retirement-account millionaire” title is surging once again. This elite group of retirement savers have [individual retirement accounts](https://money.com/what-is-an-ira/) (IRAs), 401(k)s or 403(b)s with balances of at least $1 million per account. According to data from the investment firm Fidelity, the number of retirement millionaires has jumped about 25% so far this year. “Average retirement account balances increased for the third straight quarter,” the firm said [in an analysis](https://newsroom.fidelity.com/pressreleases/fidelity--q2-2023-retirement-analysis--retirement-account-balances-move-up-for-third-straight-quarte/s/f25eecbb-d361-44d8-a042-d34fe500f37b) of its 45 million retirement accounts that was released Thursday — pushing the number of 401(k) millionaires to 378,000 and IRA millionaires to 350,000. Overall, IRA balances gained 5% compared to the previous quarter, and [401(k)](https://money.com/what-is-a-401k-rollover/) balances rose 4% over the same period, Fidelity said. ## If you currently have a 401k but are looking for different ways to extend your portfolio, rolling over to a Gold IRA is one of the best ways to do so! ### American Hartford Gold can help protect your assets in tax-advantaged accounts by providing metal IRA. Why wait? Select your state to get started today! [Invest in Gold](https://money.com/pr/x3c4ebd2b55c?ap_referrer=%2F401k-millionaires-back-on-rise%2F) ## Impact of stock market rally The increase — in both account balances and retirement-account millionaires — is thanks in large part to a rebounding stock market. The benchmark [S&P 500 stock market index](https://money.com/what-is-the-sp-500-index/), for example, has surged more than 13% since the start of 2023. Last year, though, retirement savers weren’t so lucky, as 2022 was the [worst year for stocks since the Great Recession](https://money.com/investor-tips-after-stocks-worst-year/). That tumultuous year for the markets resulted in [a 20% drop in retirement account balances](https://money.com/average-401k-balance-2022-stock-market/), wiping out about [a third of 401(k) millionaires](https://money.com/drop-in-401k-millionaires-stock-market/). The comeback is heartening, but the current number of retirement-account millionaires remains below the record-high notched at the end of 2021, when Fidelity says it tallied nearly 820,000 401(k)s and IRAs with balances of $1 million or more — compared to 728,000 now. ## Average retirement account balances Retirement-account millionaires are a rare breed. Only about 1.6% of 401(k) accounts and 2.5% of IRAs at [Fidelity](https://money.com/pr/s0b5e4d3a4c1?ap_referrer=https%253A%252F%252Fmoney.com%252F401k-millionaires-back-on-rise%252F) have account balances of at least $1 million. Even while that millionaire status evades the vast majority of savers, workers today predict they’ll actually need much more than that — [about $1.8 million](https://money.com/retirement-cost-predictions-2-million/) — to retire comfortably. Here’s a look at the average balances at the end of June 2023 for Fidelity accounts: - **Average IRA balance:** $113,800 - **Average 401(k) balance:** $112,400 - **Average 403(b) balance:** $102,400 Perhaps unsurprisingly, average balances vary greatly by age. While the overall 401(k) balance of all age groups was about $112,000, boomers have saved almost double that amount: - **Average boomer 401(k) balance:** $220,900 - **Average Gen X 401(k) balance:** $153,300 - **Average millennial 401(k) balance:** $48,300 - **Average Gen Z 401(k) balance:** $8,100 Still, young retirement savers have made large gains since last year’s market rout. Fidelity says that 401(k) balances for millennials have risen 24.5% from the same time last year and 66.5% for Gen Zers. “I am so encouraged,” said Joanna Rotenberg, Fidelity’s president of personal investing, in a news release, “to see the leaps young investors are making when it comes to their retirement savings.” ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/19305/medium_414558a1-29d4-465e-b5d1-921febc39ed2.png) American Hartford Gold can help you take control of your financial future [Invest in Gold](https://money.com/pr/u1f7b2bc903e?ap_referrer=%2F401k-millionaires-back-on-rise%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/401k-millionaires-back-on-rise/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Retirement", "item": "https://money.com/retirement/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "401(k)", "item": "https://money.com/401k/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Number of 401(k) Millionaires Is Back on the Rise as Account Balances Surge" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/401k-millionaires-back-on-rise/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/401k-millionaires-back-on-rise/", "name": "The Number of 401(k) Millionaires Is Back on the Rise as Account Balances Surge", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-08-18T17:45:37.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/401k-millionaires-back-on-rise/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/401k-millionaires-back-on-rise/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T13:45:17.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "The Number of 401(k) Millionaires Is Back on the Rise as Account Balances Surge", "articleSection": "Retirement", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/08/News-Young-investors-open-IRAs-401k-millionaires-rising.jpg?crop=0px%2C228px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-Young-investors-open-IRAs-401k-millionaires-rising" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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