Source:  Economic Policy Institute

That’s median retirement savings, meaning half of all families have more and half have less.   Average retirement savings does look better:

What it tells you when the mean is so much greater than the median is that a few families have saved a lot for retirement but most have saved very little:

The spread from median to 90th percentile is phenomenal.   I look at that chart and think “That’s what 40 years of stagnant compensation, a culture which fetishizes consumption over long-term planning, a housing bubble, and a few decades of corporate looting will get you.”