Individual retirement accounts have cemented their place at the heart of American retirement planning, with nearly 60 million households now holding IRAs and total assets reaching $18.0 trillion in mid-2025.
Figures from new research from the Investment Company Institute reveal a dramatic shift in how Americans store retirement wealth with IRAs now accounting for 39% of total US retirement market assets, up from 24% two decades ago and 19% three decades earlier.
As a share of all household financial assets, IRAs have climbed to 13%, compared with just 5% thirty years ago.
The survey found that 44% of US households owned IRAs in mid-2025, with traditional IRAs remaining the most widely held type at 32.6% of households, or 43.9 million. Roth IRAs were held by 37.5 million households, representing 27.8%.
When combined with employer-sponsored retirement plan coverage, nearly three quarters of all US households (approx. 100 million) held some form of tax-advantaged retirement savings. Among households approaching retirement, defined as those with a survey respondent aged 55 to 64 who is working or whose spouse is working, that figure rose to 86%.
The primary growth driver for traditional IRAs continues to be assets rolled over from employer-sponsored plans.
In mid-2025, 61% of traditional IRA-owning households (approx.. 27 million) held IRAs that contained rollover assets. Of those, 86% transferred their entire retirement plan balance in their most recent rollover, and the median share of the traditional IRA balance attributable to rollovers stood at 80%.
The most recent IRS data show households transferred $670 billion from employer-sponsored retirement plans to traditional IRAs in 2022 alone. Median traditional IRA holdings that include rollovers were $200,000 in mid-2025, more than three times the $62,500 median for balances funded purely through individual contributions.
When asked why they rolled assets into IRAs, most households (63%) said consolidation was a motivator while 62% did not want assets left behind at a former employer. More than half wanted to preserve the tax treatment of the savings, while 56% cited the desire for broader investment options. Looking at primary reasons specifically, consolidation led the field at 25%, followed by not wanting to leave assets with a former employer at 19%, and wanting more investment options at 15%.
Professional financial advisors were the most consulted source when households researched the rollover decision, relied upon by 64% of traditional IRA owners with rollovers and identified as the primary information source by 52%.
Despite a modest upward trend in recent years, IRA contribution activity remains limited.
In tax year 2024, 17% of all US households contributed to a traditional or Roth IRA, edging up from 16% the prior year and 11% in tax year 2017. Among households that already owned traditional or Roth IRAs, the contribution rate was higher at 38%, compared with 37% in tax year 2023.
Roth IRA owners were more active contributors, with 42% making contributions in tax year 2024, versus 23% of traditional IRA owners. Median contributions were $6,000 to Roth IRAs and $5,000 to traditional IRAs.
Among households that held IRAs but did not contribute, retirement was the most commonly cited explanation. Four in 10 non-contributing traditional IRA owners said they were retired and no longer saving, while roughly one in five said they lacked the funds, and about one-quarter could not meet eligibility requirements.
Non-contributing Roth IRA owners were more likely to cite an inability to save, with more than four in 10 giving that reason.
A third of traditional IRA-owning households took withdrawals in tax year 2024, a level consistent with prior years once a 2020 dip caused by the suspension of required minimum distributions is set aside.
Among those taking withdrawals, 88% were retired. Younger account holders largely stayed on the sidelines, with only 8% of traditional IRA owners under 59 making withdrawals.The required minimum distribution rule governed the withdrawal calculations for 70% of those who took money out, while 14% took lump sums based on specific needs.
At the other end of the age spectrum, 95% of withdrawing households headed by someone aged 73 or older based their withdrawal on RMD rules. Roth IRA owners withdrew at far lower rates, with only 6% taking distributions in tax year 2024; a reflection of Roth accounts not being subject to RMDs during the owner's lifetime.
In mid-2025, 72% of traditional IRA owners and 65% of Roth IRA owners said they had a strategy in place for managing income and assets in retirement. Among those with a strategy, 77% had worked with a professional financial advisor in building it.
Common elements of those strategies included reviewing asset allocation (72% of traditional IRA owners with a strategy), determining retirement expenses (68%), developing a retirement income plan (66%), and deciding when to claim Social Security benefits (56%).
Seven in 10 traditional IRA owners with a retirement strategy had taken three or more concrete steps in developing it.
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