2026 contribution year
401(k) contribution calculator
Two numbers decide most of it: the percentage you elect, and the percentage your employer stops matching at.
Your plan and your paycheck
2026 contribution limitsCatch-ups start at 50 and step up for 60 to 63.
50 means fifty cents per dollar you put in.
The point your employer stops matching.
Your assumption, not a rule. Nobody knows this number.
Also an assumption. Set it to 0 to hold pay flat.
This year, and where it lands
Enter your pay, your deferral and your employer's match formula, then press Project my 401(k).
This is the paying-in side of a workplace 401(k). You elect a percentage of pay, your employer adds a match on some or all of it, and the two compound until you stop working. The calculator takes your salary, your election, your employer's match formula and your age, applies the 2026 statutory ceilings, and shows both what goes in this year and what the account is worth at retirement. If you want to know what the money costs in tax when it comes back out, that is a different question, and a different page.
The 2026 ceilings
You can defer $24,500 of pay into a 401(k) in 2026. From the year you turn 50 that rises by a $8,000 catch-up, and for the four years you are 60 through 63 the catch-up is $11,250 instead, so those years allow $35,750. At 64 it drops back to the ordinary catch-up. Everything going into the account from every source (your deferral, the match, any profit sharing) is capped at $72,000 under 50, $80,000 from 50 to 59 and $83,250 from 60 to 63. Separately, a plan may only count the first $360,000 of your pay, which is what caps the match for high earners rather than the match formula itself.
Worked example, $90,000 at 35, matched 50% up to 6%
A 35-year-old on $90,000 with $40,000 already in the plan, whose employer pays fifty cents on the dollar up to 6% of pay. Three elections, first-year contributions:
| Election | Your deferral | Employer match | Into the account | Match forfeited |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3% of pay | $2,700 | $1,350 | $4,050 | $1,350 |
| 6% of pay, the full match | $5,400 | $2,700 | $8,100 | $0 |
| 28% of pay, hits the $24,500 limit | $24,500 | $2,700 | $27,200 | $0 |
| 42% of pay at 61, the catch-up years | $35,750 | $2,700 | $38,450 | $0 |
The 3% election forfeits $1,350 of match every year. That is not a small optimisation: the employer is offering $2,700 and will only hand over $1,350 of it, and the gap is a pay cut you chose. Going from 3% to 6% costs $2,700 of your own money and collects $1,350 of someone else's.
The 28% election asks payroll for $25,200 and gets $24,500, because the deferral limit binds. Notice the match does not move between the 6% row and the 28% row. It is $2,700 either way. Deferring more than 6% buys tax deferral, not more employer money. The 61-year-old on the identical salary has to elect 42% before anything binds, and then reaches $35,750, the same $24,500 plus the $11,250 catch-up that only exists for those four years.
What thirty years of the same decision is worth
Carrying each election to 65 on a 7% assumed return and 3% assumed pay rises, starting from $40,000:
| Election | Your contributions | Employer match | Assumed growth | Balance at 65 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3% of pay | $128,455 | $64,224 | $596,786 | $829,465 |
| 6% of pay | $256,907 | $128,455 | $929,093 | $1,354,455 |
| 28% of pay | $868,000 | $128,455 | $2,148,785 | $3,185,240 |
Moving from 3% to 6% is worth $524,990 by 65 on these assumptions, and a third of that is employer match and the growth on it, money that never came out of your own pay. Going on from 6% to the full $24,500 adds a further $1,830,785, all of it your own money and its growth. The first move is free and the second one is expensive, which is why the order matters. The return and pay-rise figures are assumptions you set, not researched data, and the statutory limits are held at their 2026 levels for all thirty years because future indexation is not knowable.
Questions
Does the employer match count against my $24,500 limit?
No. $24,500 is the limit on your own elective deferral. The match sits outside it and counts instead against the all-sources ceiling, $72,000 under 50. So a 35-year-old deferring the full $24,500 with a $2,700 match is at $27,200 of $72,000, nowhere near it. That ceiling normally only binds when an employer adds profit sharing on top of a match.
If I max out early in the year, do I lose match?
You can. Payroll stops your deferral the moment you hit $24,500, and if the match is calculated per pay period, no deferral in November and December means no match in November and December. Plans with a true-up provision fix this after year end; plans without one do not. Front-loading a 401(k) is the one case where contributing faster can cost you money, so check the plan document for the word "true-up" before you do it.
What changes at 60?
For the years you are 60, 61, 62 and 63 the catch-up is $11,250 rather than $8,000, taking the deferral limit to $35,750. It is a four-year window and it closes: at 64 you go back to $32,500. There is also a wage test: if your prior-year wages from that employer were above $150,000, the catch-up portion has to be made as Roth, so you pay tax on it now instead of deducting it.
I earn well over $360,000. What does that change?
Only the first $360,000 of pay can be counted by the plan in 2026, so a 6%-of-pay match tops out at 6% of $360,000 however large the salary is, and your deferral percentage is applied to that capped figure too. Your own deferral limit is a flat dollar amount and does not shrink. Separately, a plan can fail its nondiscrimination testing and refund part of a highly compensated employee's deferral after year end, which is a plan-level problem no calculator can predict.
Traditional or Roth 401(k)?
The dollar limit is the same either way, and you can split your election between them. Traditional cuts this year's taxable income and is taxed on the way out; Roth is taxed now and comes out untaxed. The rough test is whether your bracket in retirement will be higher or lower than today's, and for most people mid-career it is lower, which favours traditional. If you are early-career, in a low bracket, and expect to earn much more later, Roth is the better side of the bet.
Related tools
- Retirement withdrawal calculator what this balance costs in tax when it comes back out
- Self-employed retirement solo 401(k) and SEP, if you have no employer to match you
- Saver's credit a credit for contributing, if your income is modest
- Paycheck calculator what a deferral does to your take-home
- Cost of waiting what a delayed start costs
Contribution limits are the 2026 statutory figures. The balance at retirement is a projection built on your own return and pay-rise assumptions, compounded smoothly in a way markets never are, with limits held at 2026 levels for every future year. It is an illustration, not a forecast. Your plan's own rules on matching, vesting and true-ups can change the employer figures. Not tax or investment advice.