Average Savings by Age in the UK: The Official Figures
The median household in Great Britain holds £10,400 in net financial wealth: savings and investments, minus debts like cards and loans. By age, the honest numbers are far smaller than most articles suggest: the median household headed by a 25 to 34 year old holds £1,300, and for under-25s the figure is £100.
These are the official figures, from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey (April 2020 to March 2022, the latest published round). If you have read very different numbers elsewhere, the section below on why every article disagrees explains what is going on. Everything here is free to cite with a link.
At a glance
- Median GB household
- £10,400 net savings & investments
- Ages 25-34
- £1,300 median
- Renting households
- £900 median
- Households owning outright
- £55,300 median
Average savings by age
The ONS measures households, by the age of the household head, and the figure is net financial wealth: money in accounts, ISAs, shares and funds, minus non-mortgage debt. That "net" matters, because a household with £4,000 saved and £4,000 on credit cards holds zero.
| Age of household head | Median net savings & investments | Two years earlier |
|---|---|---|
| 16 to 24 | £100 | £300 |
| 25 to 34 | £1,300 | £400 |
| 35 to 44 | £5,600 | £3,800 |
| 45 to 54 | £7,200 | £5,400 |
| 55 to 64 | £15,600 | £15,800 |
| 65 to 74 | £32,300 | £28,900 |
| 75 and above | £25,800 | £25,100 |
The 25 to 34 row is the story of the period: median financial wealth for that band tripled, from £400 to £1,300, the largest percentage rise of any group. The ONS attributes the shift to the pandemic period, when spending fell and saving rose. It is still £1,300: half of households in the band that anchors first-time buying hold less than that, net of their debts.
The split that matters more than age
Age is not actually the strongest divide in British savings. Housing is.
| Household situation | Median net savings & investments |
|---|---|
| Owns outright | £55,300 |
| Owns with a mortgage | £12,500 |
| Rents | £900 |
| Self-employed head | £13,000 |
| Employee head | £8,800 |
| Retired head | £32,000 |
The median renting household in Great Britain holds £900 net of debts. Not £900 a month: £900 in total. Half of renting households hold less. Set against the £55,300 median for households that own outright, this is the widest gap in the entire survey, and it is why "how much should I have saved by 30" has no single answer: a 30 year old renting in London and a 30 year old who inherited a house are living in different financial universes.
Why every article gives you a different number
Search this topic and you will find figures ranging from £1,000 to £17,000+ for the same age group. Three reasons, and knowing them makes every statistic legible:
- Survey vs official statistics. Most "average savings" figures come from commercial surveys of a couple of thousand people, self-reporting, often commissioned by a savings provider. The ONS Wealth and Assets Survey is the official measure, built from detailed household interviews.
- Mean vs median. The mean is dragged upward by a small number of very large balances; the median is the middle household. Whenever a figure looks flattering, it is usually a mean. Everything on this page is a median.
- Gross savings vs net financial wealth. A gross figure counts the savings account and ignores the credit card. The ONS nets them off, which is the honest way to measure whether a household has a cushion at all.
None of the differing numbers are exactly lies. They are just measuring different things, and the least flattering measure, median net wealth, is the one that describes the typical household.
How much should you have?
The guideline that survives contact with reality is an emergency fund of three to six months of essential outgoings in accessible savings, before anything else. For a household spending £2,000 a month on essentials, that is £6,000 to £12,000: which, set against the medians above, shows how far from that position the typical household is.
Beyond the emergency fund, the order that usually serves people best is employer pension matching first (free money), then expensive debt, then longer-term saving. Our savings calculator shows what a monthly amount compounds into, the budget planner finds the monthly amount, and our guide to savings accounts covers where to hold it.
Savings are also only one slice of wealth: property and pensions dwarf them at every age, as the average net worth by age figures show. To see your own full picture, including or excluding your pension, the net worth calculator does it in your browser in two minutes.
Method and sources
- Source: ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, April 2020 to March 2022 (latest published round), with the April 2018 to March 2020 round for comparison. Figures retrieved from the ONS's published chart data in August 2026.
- Definition: median household net financial wealth: savings, current account balances, ISAs and investments, minus non-mortgage debts.
- Household, not individual: all figures describe households, classified by the age of the household head.
Free to cite with a link. The tables update when the ONS publishes the next round.
Frequently asked questions
What are average savings at 30 in the UK?
The median household headed by a 25 to 34 year old holds £1,300 in savings and investments net of debts, on the official ONS measure. Commercial surveys quote higher figures because they typically report means, gross of debt, from self-reported polls.
What are average savings at 40 in the UK?
For households headed by a 35 to 44 year old, the median is £5,600 net of non-mortgage debts. The band's figure rose from £3,800 two years earlier.
How much should I have saved by 30?
The useful benchmark is not other people: it is three to six months of your own essential outgoings in accessible savings. Against that, the £1,300 median shows the typical household is well short, so being modestly ahead of the median means less than the comparison articles imply.
Are these figures per person?
No: per household, by the age of the household head. A couple's combined balances count once. Individual figures would be lower still.
General information, not financial advice. Figures are ONS survey estimates for Great Britain.
