401(k) Fees2025
Average administrative costs by plan size, and what your employer's plan reported
The fair question is never "what is the average 401(k) fee", it is "what do plans like mine pay". In 2025 filings the median reported administrative expense ratio runs from 0.04% at plans over $1B to 1.39% at plans under $1M, a 33x gap driven almost entirely by scale. Type your employer below to see its actual filed number against plans its own size.
Assumes a 6% annual return over 20 years on a constant balance; administrative expenses only, from the plan's own Form 5500. Fund expense ratios, usually the larger cost, are extra.
Administrative expenses (Schedule H line 2i(5)) over average net assets, across all large-plan filings on file. Reference tables: fee benchmarks by size, the fee-gap report.
The numbers above are only what the plan itself paid for administration. Most of what participants actually pay sits in fund expense ratios, which never appear on the Form 5500 and typically dwarf the administrative line. Your plan's 404(a)(5) fee disclosure and fund fact sheets carry those; HR must provide the summary plan description on request.
What is the average 401(k) fee?
There is no single average: reported administrative expense ratios in 2025 filings run from a 0.04% median for plans over $1B to 1.39% for plans under $1M, a 33x gap. A mid-size plan ($10M-$50M) has a 0.28% median. Fund expense ratios come on top of these figures.
Are my 401(k) fees too high?
Compare against plans the same size, not a national average, because recordkeeping has huge economies of scale. Look up your employer above to see its reported ratio against the median for plans its size.
How do I find out what my 401(k) charges me?
Your plan's administrative expenses are public in its Form 5500 filing, summarized on this site. Your personal all-in cost also includes fund expense ratios, listed in your plan portal's fund fact sheets and in the 404(a)(5) fee disclosure your plan must send you.
Who actually pays 401(k) administrative fees?
Some employers pay them from company money, but in most plans they are deducted from participant accounts, either directly or through fund revenue-sharing. The Form 5500 reports what the plan itself paid out of plan assets.