0.19% — based on the privacy-thresholded accepted-generation projection (2024 DOL Form 5500 filings).
Average 401(k) plan fees expressed as the total annual plan expense divided by total plan assets. Sourced from DOL Form 5500 administrative-expense reporting and shown as the median to neutralize outlier impact from the largest mega-plans.
| State | Average Fees (% of assets) | vs National |
|---|---|---|
| ID | 0.28% | +45.7% |
| NM | 0.28% | +44.1% |
| MS | 0.28% | +43.9% |
| AZ | 0.27% | +37.8% |
| UT | 0.26% | +31.5% |
| FL | 0.25% | +29.8% |
| SC | 0.25% | +27.7% |
| SD | 0.24% | +23.8% |
| NV | 0.24% | +23.1% |
| IA | 0.24% | +22.1% |
| AL | 0.24% | +21.2% |
| CO | 0.23% | +19.9% |
| KS | 0.23% | +18.4% |
| TN | 0.23% | +17.6% |
| ND | 0.23% | +16.2% |
| MT | 0.23% | +15.9% |
| ME | 0.23% | +15.8% |
| OR | 0.22% | +12.9% |
| NC | 0.22% | +12.3% |
| WI | 0.22% | +10.9% |
| IN | 0.21% | +9.8% |
| WV | 0.21% | +9.1% |
| MD | 0.21% | +8.6% |
| LA | 0.21% | +5.9% |
| MI | 0.21% | +5.4% |
| MO | 0.20% | +5.0% |
| PA | 0.20% | +4.9% |
| KY | 0.20% | +3.5% |
| NE | 0.20% | +2.8% |
| AR | 0.20% | +2.2% |
| WA | 0.20% | +1.6% |
| VA | 0.20% | +1.3% |
| GA | 0.20% | +0.8% |
| VT | 0.20% | +0.2% |
| OH | 0.19% | -3.0% |
| DE | 0.19% | -3.5% |
| NJ | 0.19% | -4.9% |
| TX | 0.18% | -6.6% |
| OK | 0.18% | -6.7% |
| AK | 0.18% | -8.9% |
| MN | 0.17% | -11.5% |
| RI | 0.17% | -12.2% |
| CA | 0.17% | -12.3% |
| NY | 0.17% | -14.9% |
| DC | 0.16% | -15.9% |
| IL | 0.16% | -18.1% |
| HI | 0.16% | -19.6% |
| NH | 0.15% | -21.3% |
| MA | 0.12% | -38.3% |
| CT | 0.12% | -39.3% |
| WY | 0.09% | -54.0% |
| Industry | Average Fees (% of assets) | vs National |
|---|---|---|
| Food Services and Drinking Places | 0.39% | +99.4% |
| Couriers and Messengers | 0.37% | +89.8% |
| Nursing and Residential Care Facilities | 0.36% | +86.8% |
| Social Assistance | 0.33% | +71.6% |
| Administrative and Support Services | 0.32% | +66.1% |
| Truck Transportation | 0.32% | +63.7% |
| Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation | 0.30% | +54.9% |
| Personal and Laundry Services | 0.29% | +50.7% |
| Specialty Trade Contractors | 0.28% | +42.9% |
| Accommodation | 0.27% | +40.7% |
| Crop Production | 0.27% | +39.5% |
| Warehousing and Storage | 0.27% | +39.5% |
| Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers | 0.27% | +37.7% |
| Support Activities for Mining | 0.27% | +37.5% |
| Apparel Manufacturing | 0.27% | +37.5% |
| Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing | 0.27% | +37.1% |
| Building Material and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers | 0.25% | +30.7% |
| Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers | 0.25% | +29.3% |
| NAICS 443 | 0.25% | +27.1% |
| Food and Beverage Retailers | 0.24% | +22.1% |
| NAICS 453 | 0.23% | +20.5% |
| Repair and Maintenance | 0.23% | +19.4% |
| Forestry and Logging | 0.23% | +19.4% |
| Construction of Buildings | 0.23% | +17.5% |
| NAICS 442 | 0.23% | +17.4% |
| NAICS 446 | 0.23% | +17.2% |
| Real Estate | 0.23% | +16.0% |
| NAICS 447 | 0.22% | +15.5% |
| Animal Production and Aquaculture | 0.22% | +15.4% |
| Textile Mills | 0.22% | +15.1% |
| Ambulatory Health Care Services | 0.22% | +14.7% |
| Educational Services | 0.22% | +14.4% |
| Waste Management and Remediation Services | 0.22% | +14.1% |
| Support Activities for Transportation | 0.22% | +13.7% |
| Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries | 0.22% | +12.8% |
| NAICS 454 | 0.22% | +11.6% |
| Wood Product Manufacturing | 0.21% | +10.3% |
| Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction | 0.21% | +10.3% |
| Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing | 0.21% | +8.3% |
| Rental and Leasing Services | 0.21% | +5.7% |
| Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations | 0.21% | +5.5% |
| Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing | 0.20% | +3.3% |
| Printing and Related Support Activities | 0.20% | +1.4% |
| Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods | 0.20% | +0.4% |
| NAICS 451 | 0.19% | -3.7% |
| Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods | 0.19% | -3.8% |
| Primary Metal Manufacturing | 0.18% | -5.1% |
| Textile Product Mills | 0.18% | -7.0% |
| Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions | 0.18% | -8.4% |
| Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles | 0.18% | -9.3% |
| Food Manufacturing | 0.18% | -9.4% |
| Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries | 0.17% | -10.6% |
| Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing | 0.17% | -12.0% |
| Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support | 0.17% | -12.4% |
| Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing | 0.17% | -13.7% |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 0.17% | -14.9% |
| Machinery Manufacturing | 0.17% | -15.1% |
| Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing | 0.16% | -15.8% |
| Credit Intermediation and Related Activities | 0.16% | -16.8% |
| Miscellaneous Manufacturing | 0.16% | -17.2% |
| Transportation Equipment Manufacturing | 0.16% | -17.5% |
| Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing | 0.16% | -17.8% |
| Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries | 0.16% | -19.3% |
| Support Activities for Agriculture and Forestry | 0.15% | -20.4% |
| NAICS 448 | 0.15% | -21.7% |
| Telecommunications | 0.15% | -23.6% |
| Paper Manufacturing | 0.15% | -24.6% |
| NAICS 452 | 0.15% | -24.8% |
| Lessors of Nonfinancial Intangible Assets (except Copyrighted Works) | 0.13% | -30.7% |
| Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services | 0.13% | -33.6% |
| Publishing Industries | 0.12% | -38.2% |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 0.12% | -38.7% |
| Fishing, Hunting and Trapping | 0.12% | -39.8% |
| Mining (except Oil and Gas) | 0.11% | -41.7% |
| Air Transportation | 0.11% | -42.1% |
| Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services | 0.11% | -43.5% |
| Water Transportation | 0.11% | -45.7% |
| Chemical Manufacturing | 0.11% | -46.0% |
| NAICS 515 | 0.10% | -49.6% |
| Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing | 0.09% | -51.9% |
| Hospitals | 0.09% | -52.0% |
| Utilities | 0.09% | -54.6% |
| Insurance Carriers and Related Activities | 0.09% | -56.1% |
| Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing | 0.08% | -56.7% |
| Oil and Gas Extraction | 0.08% | -58.5% |
| Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation | 0.08% | -59.2% |
| Rail Transportation | 0.07% | -62.6% |
| Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities | 0.07% | -66.3% |
| Pipeline Transportation | 0.05% | -74.2% |
| Plan Size | Average Fees (% of assets) | vs National |
|---|---|---|
| <100 participants · 401(k) | 0.26% | +31.7% |
| 100–499 participants · 401(k) | 0.23% | +17.1% |
| 100–499 participants · 403(b) | 0.17% | -11.8% |
| 500–999 participants · 401(k) | 0.15% | -20.7% |
| 500–999 participants · 403(b) | 0.14% | -30.1% |
| <100 participants · 403(b) | 0.12% | -37.7% |
| 1,000–4,999 participants · 401(k) | 0.09% | -54.9% |
| 1,000–4,999 participants · 403(b) | 0.06% | -68.0% |
| 5,000+ participants · 401(k) | 0.04% | -80.0% |
| 5,000+ participants · 403(b) | 0.02% | -91.3% |
Source: U.S. Department of Labor — Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Form 5500 dataset.
Why median, not arithmetic mean: Retirement plan data has extreme outliers; the median represents the middle plan in each cohort, giving a more accurate "typical" benchmark. We continue to use "average" in titles because that's the everyday term searchers use.