ICI: U.S. Retirement Assets Hit Record $45.8 Trillion in Second Quarter 2025

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Total US retirement assets were $45.8 trillion as of June 30, 2025, up 6.0 percent from March, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Retirement assets accounted for 34 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of June 2025.

Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $18.0 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 7.0 percent from the end of the first quarter of 2025. Defined contribution (DC) plan assets were $13.0 trillion at the end of the second quarter, up 6.4 percent from March 31, 2025. Government defined benefit (DB) plans—including federal, state, and local government plans—held $9.3 trillion in assets as of the end of June 2025, a 4.9 percent increase from the end of March 2025. Private-sector DB plans held $3.0 trillion in assets at the end of the second quarter of 2025, and annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts accounted for another $2.5 trillion.

Defined Contribution Plans

Americans held $13.0 trillion in all employer-based DC retirement plans on June 30, 2025, of which $9.3 trillion was held in 401(k) plans. In addition to 401(k) plans, at the end of the second quarter, $780 billion was held in other private-sector DC plans, $1.5 trillion in 403(b) plans, $506 billion in 457 plans, and $1.0 trillion in the Federal Employees Retirement System's Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Mutual funds managed $5.7 trillion, or 62 percent, of assets held in 401(k) plans at the end of June 2025. With $3.5 trillion, equity funds were the most common type of funds held in 401(k) plans, followed by $1.5 trillion in hybrid funds, which include target date funds.

Individual Retirement Accounts

IRAs held $18.0 trillion in assets at the end of the second quarter of 2025. Thirty-nine percent of IRA assets, or $6.9 trillion, was invested in mutual funds. With $4.0 trillion, equity funds were the most common type of funds held in IRAs, followed by $1.1 trillion in hybrid funds.

Other Developments

Retirement entitlements include financial assets, other assets, and the unfunded liabilities of DB plans. Under a DB plan, employees accrue benefits to which they are legally entitled and which represent assets to US households and liabilities to plans. To the extent that pension plan assets are insufficient to cover accrued benefit entitlements, a DB pension plan has a claim on the plan sponsor.

As of June 30, 2025, total US retirement entitlements were $49.9 trillion, including $45.8 trillion of financial assets, $185 billion in other assets, and another $3.9 trillion of unfunded liabilities. Retirement entitlements accounted for 37 percent of the financial assets of all US households at the end of June.

Unfunded liabilities are a larger issue for government DB plans than for private-sector DB plans. As of the end of the second quarter of 2025, unfunded liabilities were 30 percent of benefit entitlements for state and local government DB plans, 26 percent of benefit entitlements for federal government DB plans, and 5 percent of benefit entitlements for private-sector DB plans.

The quarterly retirement data tables are available at "The US Retirement Market, Second Quarter 2025".

Contact:media@ici.org

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SOURCE Investment Company Institute