401(k) Monitor

401(k) recordkeepers, ranked from Form 5500 filings

20.9%

Fidelity Investments recordkeeps 10,593 of the 50,598 large 401(k) plans with an identified recordkeeper in form-year-2024 Form 5500 filings, a 20.9% plan share covering 24,699,367 participants.

The recordkeeper runs the plan’s books: the website, the statements, the contribution records. It is named on Schedule C of each plan’s Form 5500. A recordkeeper gets its own page here once at least 20 of the 57,824 plans in the form-year-2024 data nameit. Every plan in that file is read, and some of them have a page of their own.

Recordkeepers with a page here

Plan counts from Schedule C across all form-year-2024 filings, which is the same set as the plans published here. Each median covers the plans of that brand whose filing reports a plan-paid cost, in dollars per participant.
RecordkeeperPlans, universePlan sharePublished hereMedian plan-paid cost
Fidelity Investments10,59320.9%10,593$97.71
Empower7,87615.6%7,876$165.72
Principal5,23910.3%5,239$170.05
ADP2,6685.3%2,668$67.86
John Hancock2,4044.8%2,404$197.11
Vanguard2,3374.6%2,337$97.87
Transamerica1,7013.4%1,701$149.29
The Standard (StanCorp)1,0532.1%1,053$94.88
Voya9151.8%915$96.20
Ascensus9131.8%913$136.09
T. Rowe Price8011.6%801$86.70
Charles Schwab7691.5%769$127.09
Capital Group7451.5%745$111.62
Merrill Lynch6631.3%663$87.18
Mutual of America6511.3%651$8.69
Newport Group6301.3%630$160.89
OneAmerica5881.2%588$95.36
Paychex5391.1%539$119.77
Nationwide3110.6%311$113.43
Alerus3020.6%302$167.81
EPIC Retirement Plan Services2630.5%263$181.71
J.P. Morgan2320.5%232$94.27
Milliman2170.4%217$152.44
Guideline1980.4%198$42.34
Ameritas1770.3%177$103.03
PCS Retirement1720.3%172$188.17
NWPS (Northwest Plan Services)1570.3%157$220.18
Sentinel Group1470.3%147$183.83
BOK Financial1380.3%138$84.71
Human Interest1310.3%131$70.58
TruStage (CUNA Mutual)1270.3%127$210.04
USI Consulting Group1210.2%121$85.35
Slavic401k1020.2%102$169.84
Associated Bank1010.2%101$215.31
Betterment970.2%97$67.20
Morgan Stanley960.2%96$185.07
Global Retirement Partners910.2%91$191.82
American Trust910.2%91$186.33
CPI Qualified Plan Consultants820.2%82$193.11
JULY Business Services760.1%76$148.22
TAG Resources640.1%64$83.69
UBS530.1%53$152.84
Alight460.1%46$87.90
Lincoln Financial460.1%46$203.41
BPAS430.1%43$174.98
TIAA360.1%36$87.34
LPL Financial360.1%36$140.87
Edward Jones330.1%33$125.99
Sentry310.1%31$38.25
Corebridge (VALIC)270.1%27$69.00
Securian230.1%23$39.59
Employee Fiduciary230.1%23$78.04

The median across all 54,782 published plans with computable fee data is $122.17 per participant. Plan-paid fees are a floor, not the all-in cost: fees inside fund expense ratios never appear on Schedule H.

Who recordkeeps the most 401(k) plans? (full 2024 universe)

The 15 largest recordkeepers by plans administered among the 50,598 form-year-2024 filings with an identified recordkeeper. Shares are of identified plans, not of all 57,824 plans. Linked names have a page here.
#RecordkeeperPlansPlan shareParticipantsParticipant share
1Fidelity Investments10,59320.9%24,699,36730.1%
2Empower7,87615.6%10,673,26613.0%
3Principal5,23910.3%7,370,9369.0%
4ADP2,6685.3%1,589,2391.9%
5John Hancock2,4044.8%1,600,1031.9%
6Vanguard2,3374.6%4,616,9605.6%
7Transamerica1,7013.4%2,041,1612.5%
8The Standard (StanCorp)1,0532.1%705,0920.9%
9Voya9151.8%2,089,7442.5%
10Ascensus9131.8%478,3660.6%
11T. Rowe Price8011.6%2,433,2193.0%
12Charles Schwab7691.5%1,617,1952.0%
13Capital Group7451.5%397,2400.5%
14Merrill Lynch6631.3%2,289,4252.8%
15Mutual of America6511.3%276,0970.3%

A further 5,566 plans name a provider not yet mapped to a brand; they are counted in the identified total but in no brand’s row. A brand gets a page here once it recordkeeps 20 plans in this file. 3 of the brands named in the market share data are under that count, so their names carry no link.

How the recordkeeper is identified

Recordkeeper = Schedule C Part I Item 2 provider row carrying service code 15 (recordkeeping & information management) or 64 (recordkeeping fees); when several rows qualify, the one with the highest direct compensation wins. Identified for 50,598 of the large 401(k) plan universe (form year 2024). Raw provider names (free text, truncated at 35 chars) mapped to canonical brands via pipeline/efast2/recordkeepers.csv; unmapped long tail grouped as 'Other / unmapped'. Shares are of plans with an identified recordkeeper, not of all plans.

Source: DOL EFAST2 Form 5500 bulk data (FOIA), form year 2024. Bulk dataset at askebsa.dol.gov ↗ Filings lag by design: a plan can file up to 9½ months after its year ends. Why filings lag

Cite this page

401(k) Monitor, “401(k) recordkeepers ranked by plans administered”, computed from DOL EFAST2 Form 5500 bulk data, form year 2024.