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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASAThe generational gap in Roth IRA balances looks enormous on the surface, but the headline number hides a statistical quirk that dramatically changes the story for typical savers at every age.
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Boomers have built up nearly six times the Roth IRA balance of Gen Z, according to Empower’s Personal Dashboard data as of March 2026. The average Boomer (ages 59 to 77) is sitting on $215,161 in a Roth. The average Gen Z saver (ages 18 to 26) has $38,430. Millennials, Gen X, and the Silent Generation fall in between, but the story hidden inside those averages is more nuanced than the headline suggests.
The Full Generational BreakdownHere is where each generation stands on Roth IRA balances, according to Empower’s Personal Dashboard:
Across all Americans in the dataset, the average Roth balance is $106,073 and the median is $32,723. Millennials already have roughly 2X the average Roth balance of Gen Z, and the Silent Generation shows a 6.6X average-based edge over Gen Z. The progression climbs steadily with age rather than jumping in one dramatic step.
Average vs. Median: The Important CaveatThe 5.6X gap between Boomers and Gen Z shrinks to 3.7X when you use medians instead of averages ($62,065 for a typical Boomer versus $16,777 for a typical Gen Z saver). That is a meaningful difference. Averages get pulled upward by a relatively small number of very large accounts, especially in older generations where a handful of savers may have been maxing out Roth contributions for two or three decades. Medians strip that skew out and describe the middle of the pack. The real-world gap between a typical Boomer and a typical Gen Z Roth saver is notably smaller than the headline multiple implies.
Why Roth Balances Grow the Way They DoRoth IRAs grow mostly through direct annual contributions, and those contributions are capped ($7,500 in 2026, or $8,600 for those 50 and up). Income phase-outs start at $146,000 for single filers in 2026, further limiting who can contribute directly. Roth accounts do not typically absorb the big lump-sum rollovers that inflate traditional IRA balances when people leave employers. That is why Roth balances are more evenly distributed across generations, and why the average-to-median ratio is tighter here than it is for traditional IRAs, where a small number of huge rollover accounts skew the average.
Roth IRAs also escape required minimum distributions for the original account holder, so balances can keep compounding indefinitely. That likely explains why the 70s and 80s brackets still show rising average balances instead of the drawdown you might expect. On the tax point: qualified Roth withdrawals are free of federal income and capital-gains tax on both contributions and growth, provided the account holder is at least 59½ and the account has been open at least five years.
The Age-Decade ViewBy age decade, the pattern smooths out even more:
Each decade layers on additional balance in a fairly linear way. That reflects steady, contribution-driven growth across life stages.
A Methodology NoteOne important caveat: this data comes from Empower’s Personal Dashboard, which aggregates linked-account information from Empower’s own users as of March 2026. It is a large, real dataset, but it is not a nationally representative random sample. People who use financial-aggregation tools tend to be more engaged with their finances and often carry higher balances than the general population. Other providers report lower absolute balances across every generation without necessarily contradicting the shape of the generational gap. Our prior generational IRA coverage uses a different methodology, so the figures are not directly comparable.
What This Means for Younger SaversGen Z and younger Millennials are near the start of a compounding process that cannot be rushed. A 24-year-old with $16,777 in a Roth is simply early in the process. Roth balances are built one capped contribution at a time, and the math rewards showing up every year more than it rewards trying to sprint. The Silent Generation’s $252,387 average accumulated slowly, one $7,000 or so contribution at a time.
The Broader PointAmong the pieces of the retirement savings picture, Roth IRA balances are one of the more evenly distributed. They grow steadily across generations rather than being dominated by a lucky few with massive rollovers or big employer matches. Every generation is running the same slow, tax-free race, and the finish line moves with them.
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