The embodiments of the invention provide methods, computer program products, etc. for autonomic retention classes when retaining data within storage devices. More specifically, a method of determining whether to retain data within at least one storage device begins by storing data items in at least one storage device. Furthermore, the method maintains access statistics for each of the data items, an age of each of the data items, and an administrator-defined importance value of each of the data items. Following this, a retention value is calculated for each of the data items based on the access statistics for each of the data items, the age of each of the data items, and the administrator-defined importance value of each of the data items.