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Average RRSP Savings by Age in Canada (StatCan)

2026-06-03 · 7 min read
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If you have ever searched “average RRSP savings by age in Canada,” you have probably found a tidy chart claiming the average 35-year-old has some exact dollar amount tucked away. Be a little skeptical of those. Many of them quote numbers with no source at all.

Here is what the actual Canadian government data says, straight from Statistics Canada, and one important catch: there is no mean “average RRSP balance by age.” Statistics Canada reports a median, and it groups RRSPs together with RRIFs and LIRAs rather than counting RRSPs on their own. What it does break down by age is how much Canadians contribute to RRSPs each year, and how much total retirement savings and net worth families hold. Together those paint a realistic picture. Let’s walk through the real numbers.

How much does the average Canadian have in their RRSP?

The honest answer is that Statistics Canada does not report a single mean “average RRSP balance” for each age. Its Survey of Financial Security does publish the median value of RRSPs, RRIFs and LIRAs by age group (Table 11-10-0016-01), but that figure groups the three account types together and reports the midpoint, not an average. Two other measures get closest to the question and are broken out cleanly by age: yearly RRSP contributions, and total retirement assets and net worth.

One thing worth understanding before any number lands: StatCan usually reports the median, not the average. The median is the middle Canadian, with half above and half below. The average (the mean) gets pulled upward by a small number of very large accounts, so it tends to overstate where a typical person sits. When you see a big “average” balance online, the median is almost always lower and more realistic.

For overall context, among families that held retirement assets in 2023, the median value of those assets, which bundles employer pensions, RRSPs, RRIFs, LIRAs and annuities together, was $161,800 (The assets, debts and net worth of Canadian families, 2023). That figure mixes RRSPs in with workplace pensions, so it is not an RRSP-only number, but it is the closest official measure of accumulated retirement money.

RRSP contributions by age: the Statistics Canada numbers

This is where the data gets specific. In 2023, 6.3 million Canadian tax filers contributed to an RRSP (RRSP, TFSA and FHSA Contributions, 2023, released April 1, 2025).

The most recent year with a published median-contribution-by-age breakdown is the 2022 tax year (the 6.3 million figure above is the newer 2023 count). Here is what a typical contributor in each age group put in:

Age group Median RRSP contribution (2022) Number of contributors
24 and under $1,800 165,020
25 to 34 $3,000 1,161,310
35 to 44 $3,430 1,541,930
45 to 54 $4,220 1,542,200
55 to 64 $5,000 1,444,290
65 and over $5,000 414,190

Source: Registered retirement savings plan contributions, 2022, Statistics Canada (Table 11-10-0044-01).

Two things stand out. Contributions climb steadily with age and peak at $5,000 for the 55-and-over groups. And income drives this even more than age does: in 2023, the median RRSP contribution ranged from $1,060 for contributors earning under $20,000 to $6,810 for those earning $80,000 or more (RRSP, TFSA and FHSA Contributions, 2023).

Keep in mind these are amounts contributed in a single year, not account balances. A 50-year-old contributing $4,220 a year has likely been doing some version of that for two decades.

Retirement savings and net worth by age

For the accumulated picture, the Survey of Financial Security, 2023 is the best government source. Here is median net worth by the age of the family’s main income earner, in 2023 dollars:

Age of main income earner Median net worth (2023)
Under 35 $159,100
35 to 44 $409,300
45 to 54 $675,800
55 to 64 $873,400
65 and over $738,900

Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Financial Security, 2023 (Table 11-10-0016-01).

Net worth is not the same as your RRSP. It folds in home equity, pensions, TFSAs and other savings, minus debt. But the shape is useful: savings build steadily through the working years, peak just before retirement at the 55-to-64 stage, and then dip after 65 as people start drawing their money down.

The averages also hide enormous spread depending on whether you have a workplace pension and own your home. In the 2023 survey, families aged 55 to 64 who owned their home and had an employer pension had a median net worth of about $1.4 million, while renters in the same age group without an employer pension sat at roughly $11,900. Your RRSP is one piece of a much larger puzzle.

Why “average RRSP by age” is the number people chase, and why it can mislead

It is natural to want a single benchmark to measure yourself against. The trouble is that the “average RRSP balance by age” tables floating around often have no citation at all, and even a true average overstates the typical saver because of that mean-versus-median gap.

The bigger issue is that there is no correct RRSP balance for a given age. What you actually need depends on your income, whether you have a defined-benefit or defined-contribution pension at work, how much you keep in a TFSA or FHSA, your home equity, and when you want to stop working. Two 45-year-olds with identical RRSPs can be in completely different shape if one has a gold-plated pension and the other has none.

Things to consider before comparing yourself to the averages

  • The RRSP is one bucket of several. A modest RRSP alongside a strong defined-benefit pension can be perfectly healthy. The StatCan retirement-asset figure above deliberately groups pensions and RRSPs together for exactly this reason.
  • Most Canadians contribute modestly. The median contributions of $3,000 to $5,000 a year sit well below most people’s annual RRSP room, which is roughly 18% of your prior-year earned income up to an annual maximum, reduced by any workplace-pension adjustment and increased by unused room carried forward. The “average” saver is not maxing out.
  • Your own projection beats any benchmark. Rather than chasing a number for your age, it is more useful to estimate what you will actually need. You can size a monthly savings target with the retirement savings calculator and model how long the money lasts with the retirement calculator.
  • Where the RRSP fits with other accounts is its own question. For how the RRSP compares to its tax-free sibling, see the TFSA guide and the 2026 TFSA contribution room post.

Bottom line

There is no single mean “average RRSP balance by age” in Canada. Statistics Canada reports medians, and it bundles RRSPs with RRIFs and LIRAs, so that distinction is the most useful thing to know going in. What Statistics Canada data does show is that median RRSP contributions rise with age and income, from about $3,000 in your late twenties and thirties to $5,000 by your late fifties, and that median family net worth climbs from roughly $159,000 under age 35 to about $873,000 at ages 55 to 64 before drawing down in retirement. Treat those as context, not a target. The number that matters is the one your own income, pension, and plans point to.

Sources

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