How does your CPF balance compare with others your age?
It’s a question Singaporeans keep asking on forums like Reddit and Seedly, usually because the official data is scattered across raw tables that are hard to make sense of. Yet the numbers matter. CPF holds $677 billion across 4.3 million members, and with Singaporeans now living to around 84 on average, those savings have to last longer than ever.
We’ve pulled the latest releases from the CPF Board and data.gov.sg into one page: average balances by age, what retirees actually receive from CPF LIFE, and how many people hit their retirement sums. This page is updated regularly as new data is released.
Summary of Key CPF Statistics (2026)
All figures are from SmartWealth’s analysis of CPF Board and data.gov.sg releases, as at 31 December 2025 unless stated otherwise.
- Singapore’s 4.3 million CPF members held $677 billion in their accounts as at March 2026
- The average CPF member had $154,829 in net balances as at 31 December 2025, with averages peaking at $315,123 for ages 51 to 55
- SmartWealth’s analysis of the official distribution data shows 54% of active CPF members aged 51 to 55 have accumulated at least $500,000 once scheme withdrawals, mainly for housing, are counted back in (as at end-2025)
- Women aged 26 to 30 hold 30.4% more CPF than men on average, but the gap reverses from the 40s and reaches 13.0% in favour of men by ages 51 to 55
- CPF LIFE recipients received an average of about $676 a month in 2025, reflecting the smaller retirement sums of earlier cohorts, against the $1,780 estimated for the 2026 Full Retirement Sum cohort
- The share of active members reaching their Required Retirement Sum at 55 climbed to 73.4% in 2025, up from 63.6% for the 2020 cohort
- CPF credited members $23.6 billion in interest for 2025, and voluntary top-ups hit a record $10.4 billion in 2025
- Members had $21.2 billion invested under the CPF Investment Scheme as at March 2026, with OA holdings down about a third from their 2023 peak
SIDE NOTE
A policy bought years ago. Savings in three places. A will that's still on the to-do list.
None of it is wrong. It's just not a plan yet.
There's an order that turns the pieces into one system, and it doesn't require becoming a finance expert. Here's the order, in 7 steps, so you know what to sort out first.
CPF at a Glance: Membership and Total Balances
1) Singapore’s 4.3 million CPF members hold $677 billion in their accounts
As at March 2026, there were 4.3 million CPF members, according to the CPF Board’s quarterly statistics.
Total balances stood at $677 billion as at March 2026, up from $661 billion at the end of 2025. All of it sits in members’ accounts, earning guaranteed interest.
How many CPF members are there in Singapore?
There are 4.3 million CPF members as at March 2026, of whom about 2.2 million are active members (those with at least one contribution in the current or preceding three months). The rest are mostly people no longer working or contributing, including many above 65.
Average CPF Balance by Age in Singapore
2) The average CPF member has $154,829 in net balances
Across all 4.27 million members with balances, the average is $154,829 per member as at 31 December 2025, based on the Board’s balances by age group and sex data.
Averages across all ages don’t tell you much on their own, though. A 25-year-old and a 60-year-old are at completely different points of their savings journey. Here’s the same data broken down by age group, computed from the official figures:
| Age group | Average net CPF balance |
|---|---|
| 20 and below | $4,346 |
| 21 to 25 | $13,456 |
| 26 to 30 | $59,078 |
| 31 to 35 | $114,443 |
| 36 to 40 | $161,366 |
| 41 to 45 | $214,543 |
| 46 to 50 | $268,274 |
| 51 to 55 | $315,123 |
| 56 to 60 | $312,234 |
| 61 to 65 | $289,817 |
| 66 to 70 | $191,352 |
| 71 to 75 | $160,437 |
| 76 to 80 | $98,656 |
| Above 80 | $46,958 |
| All ages | $154,829 |
Source: computed from CPF Board data, net balances of all CPF members as at 31 December 2025
Most sites that cover this topic republish CPF’s median ranges (such as “$140,000 to below $160,000”). The exact averages above are calculated directly from the underlying dataset, so you can benchmark against a precise figure rather than a band.
3) Average CPF balances peak at $315,123 between ages 51 and 55
Balances climb steadily through your working years and peak in the early 50s at $315,123 on average.
From 55 onwards, the trend reverses. That’s not because older Singaporeans suddenly stop saving. At 55, CPF sets up your Retirement Account and at least $5,000 becomes withdrawable, with larger withdrawals allowed above your retirement sum. From 65, savings start flowing out monthly through CPF LIFE. We cover both mechanics later in this article.
4) 54% of active members aged 51 to 55 have set aside more than $500,000
This one surprises most people.
Looking at active members (those currently working and contributing) and counting regrossed balances, 54% of members aged 51 to 55 had accumulated at least $500,000 as at 31 December 2025.
Regrossed is the key word, and it’s the dataset’s own definition: balances with the amounts withdrawn under CPF schemes for housing, investment, and education added back. It measures what you’ve built up through CPF over your working years, not what’s sitting in your accounts today (though it doesn’t add back cash withdrawn from 55, so it understates lifetime accumulation for the oldest groups). Don’t panic if your app shows far less: for most people, a large share of that money is in their flat.
5) What share of your age group has crossed $100,000, $300,000, and $500,000 in CPF
The question forums keep circling (“how does my balance compare?”) can be answered directly from CPF’s published distribution data, with no modelling needed. The table below shows the share of active members in each age group who have accumulated at least $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, and $500,000 through CPF, using regrossed balances (which count back amounts used for housing, investment, and education) as at 31 December 2025:
| Age group | At least $100,000 | At least $200,000 | At least $300,000 | At least $500,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 to 30 | 34% | 4% | under 1% | under 1% |
| 31 to 35 | 75% | 39% | 12% | under 1% |
| 36 to 40 | 85% | 67% | 44% | 9% |
| 41 to 45 | 89% | 76% | 62% | 32% |
| 46 to 50 | 92% | 82% | 71% | 47% |
| 51 to 55 | 94% | 85% | 75% | 54% |
| 56 to 60 | 95% | 84% | 71% | 46% |
| 61 to 65 | 93% | 79% | 63% | 34% |
Source: computed from the official distribution data, active CPF members by regrossed balances and age group, as at 31 December 2025. Each share is a direct count of members in the published balance bands at or above that threshold, rounded to the nearest 1%.
To use one example: SmartWealth’s analysis of the distribution data shows that 44% of active members aged 36 to 40 have accumulated at least $300,000 through CPF. So a 38-year-old who has crossed that mark (including what went into their flat) is comfortably in the top half of their age group.
None of this is a race, though. It’s just a way to see roughly where you sit.
6) Women under 30 hold about 30% more CPF than men, but the gap reverses after 40
Here’s an angle none of the usual coverage looks at: the gender gap in CPF balances runs in both directions.
| Age group | Average (male) | Average (female) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 to 30 | $51,302 | $66,912 | Women hold 30.4% more |
| 31 to 35 | $112,705 | $116,089 | Women hold 3.0% more |
| 36 to 40 | $162,842 | $160,941 | Men hold 1.2% more |
| 41 to 45 | $222,694 | $207,206 | Men hold 7.5% more |
| 46 to 50 | $280,853 | $256,692 | Men hold 9.4% more |
| 51 to 55 | $333,895 | $295,455 | Men hold 13.0% more |
| 61 to 65 | $308,235 | $271,639 | Men hold 13.5% more |
| Above 80 | $57,321 | $39,976 | Men hold 43.4% more |
Source: computed from CPF Board data, net balances by age group and sex, all members, as at 31 December 2025
Women in their late 20s hold 30.4% more CPF than men of the same age on average, most likely because National Service delays men’s entry into full-time work by about two years. Men catch up through their 30s, pull ahead from their early 40s, and the gap widens with age, reaching 13.0% by ages 51 to 55 and more than 40% for the oldest members.
The pattern in the older groups likely reflects career breaks, the gender pay gap of earlier decades, and lower labour force participation among older women. For couples, it’s a practical argument for topping up a wife’s CPF as part of household retirement planning.
How Much CPF Should You Have at 30, 40 and 55?
Based on the latest official data, the average member has about $59,000 by 30, $161,000 by 40, and $315,000 by 55 in net balances. Counting regrossed balances, which add back scheme withdrawals (mainly housing), 34% of active members have crossed $100,000 by 30, 44% have crossed $300,000 by 40, and 54% have crossed $500,000 by 55.
| Milestone age | Average net balance (all members) | Share of active members past selected marks (regrossed) |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | $59,078 | 34% past $100,000 |
| 35 | $114,443 | 39% past $200,000 |
| 40 | $161,366 | 44% past $300,000 |
| 45 | $214,543 | 32% past $500,000 |
| 55 | $315,123 | 54% past $500,000 |
Source: as at 31 December 2025. Averages come from the CPF Board dataset of net balances by age group. Shares come from the data.gov.sg distribution of active members by regrossed balances, counted directly at each mark. Figures shown are for the age band ending at each milestone age.
Two benchmarks matter more than your peers, though. The first is your own trajectory: whether your balance is compounding steadily towards the retirement sums we cover below. The second is your income: someone earning the median salary will naturally accumulate less than a high earner at the same age, and that’s fine if the plan holds.
If you haven’t reached the marks above, treat it as a nudge to review where your money is going. Every one of these thresholds still has a large share of Singaporeans on either side of it.
CPF LIFE Payouts: What Retirees Actually Receive
Every retirement guide quotes the same estimator figures for CPF LIFE. Fewer explain what current retirees receive, and why the two numbers naturally differ.
7) The average CPF LIFE recipient gets about $676 a month
In 2025, CPF LIFE paid out $1.8 billion to around 221,900 members receiving monthly payouts, based on the official payout data and the Board’s CPF LIFE statistics. That comes to roughly $676 a month per recipient on average.
The working is simple: $1.80 billion ÷ 221,900 recipients ÷ 12 months. Because members join the payout pool throughout the year, the exact average depends on when you count recipients, so treat it as a close approximation rather than a precise figure.
That figure reflects who today’s recipients are. Most turned 55 years ago, when retirement sums were far smaller (the FRS was $123,000 in 2010, against $220,400 now), and many set aside only the Basic Retirement Sum. Payouts are locked to the sums of your own cohort, so earlier cohorts receive smaller monthly amounts.
That context matters when you see the figure most guides quote: an estimated $1,780 a month for someone setting aside the Full Retirement Sum from 2026. Both numbers are correct. The estimates describe future retirees setting aside today’s larger sums, while the average describes cohorts who retired on smaller ones. As newer cohorts enter the scheme, the average payout may rise accordingly.
Counting all retirement payouts including the older Retirement Sum Scheme, $5.4 billion went out to 696,000 members in 2025, up 22.7% from $4.4 billion the year before. That averages roughly $7,800 per member across the year, a lower rate than the CPF LIFE figure above because it spans a much larger group, most of whom are on the older scheme.
QUICK CHECK
Can you answer these three questions?
1) If something happened to you tomorrow, how much would your family receive?
2) At 65, what monthly income will your savings and investments pay you?
3) If you never get round to a will, who inherits what, and in what proportion?
Most people manage one at best. Not because they're careless, but because nobody has shown them which order to tackle things in.
That order exists. Work through your finances in this sequence, from income and protection through to investments and estate planning.
8) CPF LIFE payouts have grown 41 times since 2010
Annual CPF LIFE payouts have climbed from $43.7 million in 2010 to $1.8 billion in 2025 as the scheme matures and larger cohorts start their payouts.
| Year | Total CPF LIFE payouts |
|---|---|
| 2010 | $43.7 million |
| 2013 | $120.4 million |
| 2016 | $213.0 million |
| 2019 | $377.5 million |
| 2022 | $694.9 million |
| 2023 | $949.8 million |
| 2024 | $1.34 billion |
| 2025 | $1.80 billion |
Source: data.gov.sg, yearly amount of monthly payouts under the CPF LIFE Scheme
How much CPF LIFE payout will I get every month?
Your monthly payout depends mainly on how much is in your Retirement Account when payouts begin, and it can reach about $3,440 a month for life if you set aside the Enhanced Retirement Sum. CPF’s estimates for the 2026 cohort, with payouts starting at 65 on the Standard Plan:
| Retirement sum set aside at 55 | Monthly payout estimate (from 65) |
|---|---|
| Basic Retirement Sum ($110,200) | around $950 |
| Full Retirement Sum ($220,400) | around $1,780 |
| Enhanced Retirement Sum ($440,800) | around $3,440 |
Source: CPF Board estimates for the 2026 cohort, Standard Plan. Use the official payout estimator for your own numbers.
There are three CPF LIFE plans (Standard, Escalating, and Basic), and which one suits you is a separate decision beyond this article’s scope. If payouts at your likely sum look thin against your plans, some retirees layer on a private annuity for extra lifelong income.
How Many Singaporeans Reach the Full Retirement Sum?
9) 73.4% of members turning 55 in 2025 reached their Required Retirement Sum
Some 41,000 active members turned 55 in 2025, and 73.4% of them had set aside their cohort’s Required Retirement Sum, meaning the Full Retirement Sum in cash, or the Basic Retirement Sum with a property. That’s up from 70.5% the year before, and it is the highest share on record.
Each year’s figure tends to be reported once and forgotten, so we’ve assembled the recent series in one place:
| Year turning 55 | Met Required Retirement Sum |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 63.6% |
| 2021 | 64.5% |
| 2022 | 66.7% |
| 2023 | 67.6% |
| 2024 | 70.5% |
| 2025 | 73.4% |
Source: CPF Board figures reported by The Straits Times in July 2025 and July 2026
That’s a real improvement: retirement readiness has climbed almost 10 percentage points in five years. The Ministry of Manpower projects that roughly eight in 10 of those turning 55 in 2027 will manage at least the Basic Retirement Sum.
Still, roughly a quarter of active members reach 55 without their required sum, and the true share across everyone turning 55 is likely to be higher, since active members are the ones with a recent contribution.
Whether the resulting payouts are enough is a separate question, and we’ve looked at it in detail in is CPF enough for retirement.
For scale: retiree households spent an average of $1,384 per member each month in 2023, per the Household Expenditure Survey. The average household of any age spent $5,931 a month, which works out to roughly $1,900 per member.
The retirement sums are pegged to an individual’s retirement expenses, so for most households, CPF LIFE payouts work alongside personal savings, family support, and other income rather than carrying everything alone.
10) The Full Retirement Sum has almost tripled since 2003
The FRS for members turning 55 in 2026 is $220,400, up 2.75 times from $80,000 in 2003, according to the official retirement sum series. Over the past decade alone it has risen about 37%.
| Year turning 55 | Basic Retirement Sum | Full Retirement Sum | Enhanced Retirement Sum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $102,900 | $205,800 | $308,700 |
| 2025 | $106,500 | $213,000 | $426,000 |
| 2026 | $110,200 | $220,400 | $440,800 |
| 2027 | $114,100 | $228,200 | $456,400 |
Source: CPF Board. The ERS was raised from three to four times the BRS from 2025, which is why it jumps between 2024 and 2025.
The sums rise each year to keep payouts in line with inflation and longer lifespans, and your own sums lock in at whatever they are the year you turn 55. We list every cohort’s retirement sums back to 2003, along with what the BRS, FRS, and ERS each mean in practice. Projections of future increases are announced in advance, but past increases are no guarantee of the exact path beyond 2027.
What Happens to CPF Balances at 55?
From 55, at least $5,000 becomes available to withdraw, along with any savings beyond your cohort’s retirement sum. This is why the balance figures above bend downwards after the early 50s.
The 55th birthday is also when your Retirement Account opens. With no more Special Account for the over-55s since early 2025, savings flow into the RA up to your Full Retirement Sum, and anything beyond that sits in your Ordinary Account, still withdrawable whenever you choose.
The scale of these movements is visible in the Board’s outflow data: members withdrew $3.6 billion for retirement purposes in the first quarter of 2026 alone, including monthly payouts. How long you keep working past 55 also matters, and Singapore’s retirement age rules have just shifted, with the statutory retirement age at 64 from July 2026.
We cover the mechanics of the Retirement Account and CPF LIFE enrolment in more detail in our CPF retirement guide.
More Than Half a Million Members Have Over $500,000 in CPF
11) 528,390 active members have accumulated more than $500,000
CPF Board doesn’t publish a count of CPF millionaires. What the data does show: 528,390 active members, or 23.5% of all active members, had accumulated more than $500,000 in regrossed balances as at 31 December 2025. Another 194,260 sat between $400,000 and $500,000.
The 1M65 movement, a community of Singaporeans aiming for $1 million in CPF by 65 through early top-ups and compounding, has turned these upper bands into a goal rather than a curiosity. And the goal isn’t fantasy: even among active members below 40, some 26,310 have already crossed $500,000, including about 670 below 35.
If you’re tracking your own progress towards a larger goal, our millionaire statistics article covers how many Singaporeans get there across all asset types, not just CPF.
Where CPF Money Flows: Contributions, Interest and Withdrawals
12) CPF paid members $23.6 billion in interest for 2025
Interest for 2025 came to $23.6 billion, landing in members’ accounts in January 2026 (CPF computes interest monthly but credits it once a year). That’s over 13 times the year’s total CPF LIFE payouts. How the rates are set, including the extra interest paid on lower balances and for members 55 and above, is covered in our CPF interest rates guide.
13) Members made a record $10.4 billion of voluntary top-ups in 2025
Voluntary top-ups hit more than $10.4 billion from 499,000 members in 2025, more than double the $4.8 billion in 2024. In the CPF Board’s 2025 annual report, chairman Yong Ying-I put the jump down to the Enhanced Retirement Sum rising from three to four times the Basic Retirement Sum ($426,000) on 1 January 2025, which roughly doubled the room to top up above the Full Retirement Sum. The closure of the Special Account for members 55 and above from 19 January also nudged Ordinary Account savings into the RA for the higher interest rate.
The surge came early. January alone saw $2.9 billion from 105,000 members, and the total had passed $6.7 billion by the end of July. Top-ups can also go to a spouse’s account, one practical answer to the gender gap in CPF balances that widens from the 40s onwards.
14) Members and employers contributed $57.9 billion in 2025
Total contributions reached $57.9 billion in 2025, and the pace has continued into 2026, with $17.0 billion arriving in the first quarter alone.
| Year | Total CPF contributions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | $44.8 billion |
| 2022 | $47.6 billion |
| 2023 | $49.1 billion |
| 2024 | $55.9 billion |
| 2025 | $57.9 billion |
Source: CPF Board contributions statistics. CPF’s definition of total contributions includes government grants and dividends credited to members.
Going the other way, members made net withdrawals of $11.1 billion for housing in 2025 ($7.1 billion for HDB flats and $4.0 billion for private property), according to the Board’s home ownership statistics, and another $6.3 billion net from MediSave for medical expenses and insurance premiums.
That housing outflow, running at around $11 billion in 2025, is the main reason visible account balances understate what Singaporeans have actually built through CPF, and it’s why the regrossed figures earlier in this article are so much higher than what your app shows. How your monthly contribution gets split across your accounts is covered in our contribution and allocation rates guide.
15) Members have $21.2 billion of CPF invested, and OA holdings have fallen by a third since 2023
Not all CPF money sits in accounts earning the default interest. As at March 2026, members had $21.2 billion invested under the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS): $16.5 billion from Ordinary Accounts and $4.7 billion from Special Accounts.
That’s equivalent to only about 3% of the $677 billion sitting in members’ account balances. (Invested amounts are withdrawn from the accounts, so they sit alongside the balance figures, not within them.) For all the attention CPF investing gets, the vast majority of CPF savings stays put on guaranteed interest.
| As at end of | CPFIS-OA members | CPFIS-OA holdings | CPFIS-SA members | CPFIS-SA holdings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 978,000 | $17.2 billion | 272,000 | $5.7 billion |
| 2022 | 992,000 | $19.6 billion | 261,000 | $5.8 billion |
| 2023 | 1,014,000 | $25.5 billion | 249,000 | $5.8 billion |
| 2024 | 1,024,000 | $23.2 billion | 229,000 | $5.0 billion |
| 2025 | 1,035,000 | $16.6 billion | 215,000 | $4.7 billion |
| March 2026 | 1,040,000 | $16.5 billion | 212,000 | $4.7 billion |
Source: CPF Board, current holdings under CPFIS. OA figures show the total cost of current holdings, while SA figures show the net amount withdrawn based on current holdings. OA member counts include everyone with an Investment Account, whether or not they currently hold investments.
The OA numbers tell a story most coverage misses. Holdings peaked at $25.5 billion at the end of 2023, then fell about 35% in two years. The Board’s flows data shows the swing directly: members pulled a net $5.9 billion out of the OA for investment in 2023, then returned a net $2.9 billion in 2024 and a net $8.2 billion in 2025. The timing matches the T-bill cycle: T-bills bought with OA savings are held through CPFIS, and when yields climbed well above the OA’s 2.5% in late 2022 and 2023, members piled in. As yields came back down, the money flowed home.
SA investing is a different picture, shrinking steadily from 272,000 members in 2021 to 212,000 now. That makes sense: SA savings already earn 4% risk-free, so an investment has to clear a much higher bar to be worth the risk. And with the over-55s’ Special Account gone since early 2025, these numbers may thin further over time.
What Can We Learn From These CPF Statistics?
The big picture is more encouraging than most people assume. Balances are rising across every age group, more than seven in 10 members now reach their required sum at 55, and over half a million active members have built more than $500,000 through the system.
The number to watch sits in the payouts. Today’s average CPF LIFE payout of around $676 a month reflects the smaller retirement sums of earlier cohorts, and it shows how much what you set aside by 55 shapes what arrives every month after 65.
So use the distribution table, not the national average, to see where you actually stand. And if you’re behind your age group’s benchmarks, that tells you where to focus rather than how the story ends. Contributions, top-ups, and decisions about your flat all compound over decades, and they work best inside a proper retirement plan.
If you’d like a professional second pair of eyes on how your CPF fits into everything else you’re building, consider a comprehensive financial planning session. The numbers on this page tell you where you are today. What happens next is still yours to decide.
Methodology
All figures come from official sources, mainly the CPF Board’s published statistics and data.gov.sg datasets, retrieved in July 2026. Where a figure is our own calculation, such as the age-group averages or the CPF LIFE monthly average, the working and its limits are stated where the figure appears.
Two distinctions matter when comparing tables. Net balances are what sits in accounts today, excluding amounts withdrawn under CPF schemes, while regrossed balances add those withdrawals back. All members covers everyone with a CPF account, while active members are those with at least one employment contribution in the current or preceding three months. The active-member distribution dataset also excludes self-employed persons. Each table states which it uses. On the gender figures, each gap is expressed as a percentage of the lower average, whichever side holds more.
This page is refreshed as the CPF Board releases new data, typically quarterly for flows and annually for the age-group breakdowns.
BEFORE YOU GO
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