2026 Target-Date Fund Landscape

Morningstar

Research

33 Pages

As the preferred investment vehicle for many American workers, target-date funds have shown remarkable growth—reaching a staggering $4.8 trillion in assets last year. Morningstar’s annual report on target-date funds analyzes flows, fees, asset composition, market dominance, strategy performance, and more.

Key Takeaways

Industry Growth: The target-date market reached $4.8 trillion in 2025, increasing 20.3% over the previous year. The industry has grown 11.9% annualized over the past decade.
Industry Concentration: The industry remains highly concentrated, with five firms controlling 80% of assets. Vanguard leads the pack with $1.8 trillion, or 37% of industry assets under management.
Collective Investment Trusts (CIT): Target-date collective investment trusts first surpassed mutual funds as the dominant vehicle in 2024, and they have continued to grow since then. At the end of 2025, they represented 54% of total target-date assets, up from 52% the year prior.
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