We maxed out my DH's 401k the minute he got a real job and was first available. When also maxed out our roth iras then too. Before that I only had a Roth IRA at $2k/year because he wasn't an american citizen nor did he have any retirement savings vehicles until 2005.
So part of the low balances can also be dependent on situations people are in due to jobs, visa status, etc. Also like MM I think it's hard in your 20s to really save for all your goals. Getting married, having kids, buying cars, homes, etc.
Even now the bulk of our savings is retirement, but we save a portion for short and long terms savings. We don't prepay our mortgage because we just have too much else to save for.
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