Data study · ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, April 2020 to March 2022 (released January 2025)
Average pension pot by age
The median GB adult with a pension has £57,500 of private pension wealth. Include the 30% who have nothing and the median drops to £19,700. Here is the honest version of the numbers, by age.
How does your pension compare?
The median for 35 to 44 year olds who have any pension is £39,500; across everyone in that age group (including the 25% with nothing) it is £19,000. Your £30,000 is above the all-adults median, below the savers' median.
Survey figures include the capitalised value of final-salary (DB) promises, not just pot balances, and describe 2020 to 2022. If you only have workplace DC pots, comparing against the DC table below is fairer.
Median pension wealth by age
| Age | Have a pension | Median (savers) | Median (everyone) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 to 24 | 27% | £5,500 | £0 |
| 25 to 34 | 70% | £18,800 | £6,000 |
| 35 to 44 | 75% | £39,500 | £19,000 |
| 45 to 54 | 79% | £80,000 | £41,200 |
| 55 to 64 | 79% | £137,800 | £86,800 |
| 65 to 74 | 71% | £145,900 | £68,500 |
| 75 and over | 69% | £59,700 | £27,400 |
Source: ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, pension wealth tables (Table 6.10), individuals, Great Britain, April 2020 to March 2022. "Pension wealth" includes the capitalised value of defined benefit entitlements and pensions in payment, not just pot balances. The state pension is excluded from every figure.
What DC savers actually see in their apps
Most working people today save into defined contribution (DC) pots, and those are far smaller than the wealth figures above because the big numbers are dominated by older final-salary promises. The FCA asked DC savers what their combined pots are worth (May 2024):
| Age | Typical combined DC pots | Under £10,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 18 to 24 | £2,500 to £5,000 | 75% |
| 25 to 34 | £5,000 to £10,000 | 50% |
| 35 to 44 | £20,000 to £30,000 | 32% |
| 45 to 54 | £30,000 to £50,000 | 21% |
| 55 to 64 | £75,000 to £100,000 | 18% |
| 65 and over | £50,000 to £75,000 | 12% |
Source: FCA Financial Lives 2024 survey (pensions findings, May 2025), self-reported, those with a DC pension in accumulation who know their pot size. Medians are reported as bands.
The "should have" milestones, for contrast
Fidelity's UK guideline is 1x your salary by 30, 2x your salary by 40, 4x your salary by 50, 6x your salary by 60 and 7x your salary by 68. On the median full-time salary that would mean roughly £78,000 by 40, against an actual median of £39,500 for 35 to 44 year olds with a pension. Most people are behind the guideline; that is what makes it a target. (The "10 times salary" version you may have seen is Fidelity's American figure; the UK target is lower because the state pension replaces more income here.)
If the gap is uncomfortable, the order of moves is: take every pound of employer match with the pension contribution checker, see whether salary sacrifice gets you more pension for the same take-home, and let the compound interest calculator show why starting this year beats starting in five.
Methodology and caveats
- Survey data: ONS Wealth and Assets Survey Round 8 (April 2020 to March 2022, published 24 January 2025), pension wealth dataset, Table 6.10. Medians only; ONS does not publish means by age.
- Round 8 changed how defined benefit pensions are valued, so these figures are not comparable with earlier rounds; apparent falls against older articles are a method change, not a crash.
- The survey covers Great Britain (not Northern Ireland) and lost its accredited official statistics status from Round 8 over response-rate concerns; headline medians remain ONS official statistics.
- DC pot figures are FCA Financial Lives 2024, self-reported band medians, UK adults 18+.
Common questions
- What is the average pension pot in the UK?
- The median private pension wealth for adults who have any pension is £57,500 (ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, April 2020 to March 2022 (released January 2025)). Across all adults, including the 30% with no private pension at all, the median falls to £19,700. Averages quoted without saying which group they cover are usually meaningless.
- How much should I have in my pension by 40?
- Fidelity's UK rule of thumb says twice your salary by 40 (and one times by 30, four by 50, six by 60, seven by 68). For comparison, the actual median for 35 to 44 year olds with a pension is £39,500, nearer one times the median salary, so most people are behind the guideline. Rules of thumb are targets, not averages.
- Why is my pension app showing much less than these figures?
- ONS pension wealth counts the capitalised value of final-salary (defined benefit) promises as well as pot balances. A teacher with a £12,000-a-year DB promise counts as having several hundred thousand pounds of pension wealth with no visible pot. Self-reported defined-contribution pots are much smaller: the median 35 to 44 year old DC saver reports £20,000 to £30,000.
- How many people have no pension at all?
- Around 30% of GB adults had no private pension wealth in the latest ONS survey, ranging from 73% of 16 to 24 year olds to about 21% of 45 to 64 year olds. The state pension is on top of all the figures here, which is also why UK targets are lower than American ones.
- Is this data current?
- It is the most recent official data there is: fieldwork ran April 2020 to March 2022 and was published in January 2025. Auto-enrolment and market growth since then mean younger savers today likely hold somewhat more than these figures.
More data studies: what the UK really earns and average savings by age.