401(k) fees by employer

What the official filing can show

Form 5500 filings report plan-level administrative expenses and service-provider compensation in varying levels of detail. Dividing reported administrative expense by participants creates a consistent comparison measure, but it is only as complete as the filing.

Large plans often spread fixed costs across more accounts. Comparing a 50-person plan with a 50,000-person plan can therefore be misleading; peer context matters.

What may be missing

Investment expense ratios are usually embedded in fund returns and are not fully captured by reported administrative expense. Revenue sharing, indirect compensation, managed-account charges, loan fees, and participant-paid transaction fees may also require the plan’s fee disclosure to understand.

How to compare employers

Use the latest filing for a first look, then examine two or three years to avoid treating a one-time expense as normal. Compare expense per participant with similar-size plans in the same industry. Finally, verify current employee charges in the participant fee disclosure.

Lower is useful, but context wins

A low reported expense is encouraging, not a guarantee of a low-cost employee experience. A higher number can reflect unusual professional services or expenses paid at the plan level. The strongest conclusion combines filing history, peer comparison, and current documents.