The average end-of-year balances for health savings accounts reached $5,532 in 2024, up from $4,747 the year prior.
However, that balance fell far below out-of-pocket maximums. In 2025, out-of-pocket maximums for HSA-eligible health plans were $8,300 for individual coverage and $16,600 for families.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute released an issue brief Aug. 13 detailing HSA trends from 2011 through 2024. The institute formed its HSA database more than a decade ago. As of the end of 2024, the database had 15.2 million accounts with total assets of $53.7 billion.
The report outlined the “triple tax advantage” of HSAs: tax-free contributions, tax-free growth and tax-free qualified withdrawals.
Here are four things to know from the analysis:
1. Average employee contributions reached $2,308 in 2024. The average employer contributions dipped to $727, perhaps as a result of a smaller share of employers supplying a contribution. The average overall contribution fell $505 and $4,755 short of the individual and family statutory maximums, respectively.
2. More than one-half of accountholders took out funds. The average distribution increased slightly to $1,870 in 2024.
3. Eighteen percent of accountholders invest HSA funds in assets beyond cash. Despite that relatively low percentage, the share of accountholders doing so has increased for eight consecutive years.
4. The presence of investments other than cash tends to be higher for older HSAs than newer ones, peaking at 30% of HSAs opened in 2005 versus just 4% of HSAs opened in 2024.
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