# RIA practice benchmarks

As of October 2, 2026, the median independent wealth management RIA manages $38.0 million of AUM per advisory employee, has 45 clients per advisory employee and has 2 employees. 91.7% of firms charge a percentage of assets (22,914 firms, from Form ADV).

As of: 2026-10-02
Address: https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/

## Facts

- Population: Independent wealth management RIAs, SEC-registered and state-registered: firms whose individual and high net worth clients hold at least half of their AUM and that offer financial planning or portfolio management for individuals. Broker-dealers, banks and their advisory arms, asset managers, private fund managers and pension consultants are not counted.
- Period: Form ADV data as of the date above. Each firm's figures are as it last reported them, mostly as of its fiscal year end, which is usually December 31 of the previous year.
- Minimum firms per group: 30
- Independent wealth management rias: 22914
- All sizes: Raum per advisor: Label: AUM per advisory employee, Firms with value: 19376, Median: 38000000, Middle 50 percent from: 12374384.8863636, Middle 50 percent to: 83798890.875, Clients per advisor: Label: Clients per advisory employee, Firms with value: 19915, Median: 45.25, Middle 50 percent from: 20.7321428571429, Middle 50 percent to: 83, Raum per client: Label: AUM per individual or high net worth client, Firms with value: 18044, Median: 800605.052611367, Middle 50 percent from: 385357.681263736, Middle 50 percent to: 1577777.77777778, Employees: Label: Employees, Firms with value: 22791, Median: 2, Middle 50 percent from: 1, Middle 50 percent to: 4, Advisory employees: Label: Advisory employees, Firms with value: 22705, Median: 1, Middle 50 percent from: 1, Middle 50 percent to: 3, Fee AUM pct: Label: Charge a percentage of assets, Firms with value: 22914, Share: 0.916601204503797, Fee fixed: Label: Charge fixed fees, Firms with value: 22914, Share: 0.597931395653312, Fee hourly: Label: Charge hourly fees, Firms with value: 22914, Share: 0.504233219865584, Fee performance: Label: Charge performance-based fees, Firms with value: 22914, Share: 0.0716156061796282, Fee commissions: Label: Receive commissions, Firms with value: 22914, Share: 0.0209478921183556, Fee AUM pct only: Label: Charge only a percentage of assets, Firms with value: 22914, Share: 0.230863227721044
- Pages: Question: How much AUM does an independent RIA manage per advisor?, URL: https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/aum-per-advisor/; Question: How many clients does an advisor at an independent RIA serve?, URL: https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/clients-per-advisor/; Question: How much AUM does an independent RIA hold per client?, URL: https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/aum-per-client/; Question: How many people work at an independent RIA?, URL: https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/firm-size/; Question: How do independent RIAs charge fees?, URL: https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/fee-arrangements/

## Notes

- A group with fewer than 30 firms reporting is not shown.
- Affiliated advisers can report the same assets on their own Form ADV, so totals here may double count across firms, as the SEC's own totals do.

## Sources

- SEC, Information About Registered Investment Advisers (ia100226.zip), checked 2026-10-02: https://www.sec.gov/files/investment/data/other/information-about-registered-investment-advisers-exempt-reporting-advisers/ia100226.zip
- IAPD compilation reports (IA_FIRM_STATE_Feed_10_20_2026.xml.gz), checked 2026-10-20: https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/compilation

## Related

- [How much AUM does an independent RIA manage per advisor?](https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/aum-per-advisor/)
- [How many clients does an advisor at an independent RIA serve?](https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/clients-per-advisor/)
- [How much AUM does an independent RIA hold per client?](https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/aum-per-client/)
- [How many people work at an independent RIA?](https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/firm-size/)
- [How do independent RIAs charge fees?](https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/fee-arrangements/)
- [RIA industry data](https://advisoriq.com/ria/industry/)
- [How the directory is built](https://advisoriq.com/ria/methodology/#benchmarks)

## Cite as

AdvisorIQ, as of 2026-10-02. https://advisoriq.com/ria/benchmarks/

License: https://advisoriq.com/license/