How the 2026 limits and the employer match work
A 401(k) balance grows from three sources: what you defer from your pay, what your employer adds, and what the investments earn. The calculator works out the first two for each year from the IRS limits and your plan's match formula, then adds a month of growth at a time.
you = min(W × d, $24,500 + catch-up)employer = m × min(you, c × min(W, $360,000))
- Your elective deferrals are your salary
Wtimes the share you put in,d. For 2026 the IRS limits them to $24,500 under section 402(g), counting every plan you defer to in the year. - Catch-up contributions are extra deferrals allowed if you are 50 or older at the end of the year: $8,000 more, so up to $32,500. In a year you turn 60, 61, 62 or 63, a higher catch-up of $11,250 applies instead of $8,000, so up to $35,750. The calculator reads the age you enter as your age on December 31, 2026, and adds a year for each year after.
- The employer match follows your plan's formula: a match rate
mon deferrals up to a sharecof pay. A plan can count at most $360,000 of pay when it applies the formula, under section 401(a)(17). Your own deferrals are a share of the pay your plan's terms count as compensation, which can be more than that; this calculator applies your percentage to the full salary you enter. - The overall limit under section 415(c) caps your deferrals (not catch-up) plus everything your employer puts in at $72,000 for 2026, or 100% of your pay if that is less. If the match formula would go over it, the calculator lowers the employer amount. With catch-up on top, the most that can go in is $80,000, or $83,250 at ages 60 to 63: the same totals the IRS prints on its contribution limits page.
Each year's contributions are spread over twelve equal deposits made at the end of each month, and the balance grows at the yearly return you enter divided by twelve each month, the same method as the SEC's Investor.gov compound interest calculator. The return is your assumption, not a forecast: investments can lose value, and no rate on this page is an expected or typical result.
The calculator keeps your salary and the 2026 limits the same in every later year. The limits are subject to cost-of-living adjustments, so later years in the table show what the 2026 rules would allow, not what a future year will. It also matches catch-up contributions like any other deferral; whether your plan does is up to its terms, as are a lower plan limit, vesting and how often the match is paid. The result is the account balance, before any tax on withdrawal.
Worked example: $75,000 salary, 6% in, 50% match up to 6%
A saver who is 35 at the end of 2026, with $25,000 already in the plan, a return assumption of 5% and retirement at 65:
- Your deferrals: 6% × $75,000 = $4,500.00, under the $24,500 limit.
- Employer match: 50% × min($4,500.00, 6% × $75,000) = $2,250.00.
- Overall limit: $6,750.00 is far below $72,000, so nothing is cut.
- First year: $25,000 plus $6,750.00 of deposits plus $1,435.90 of growth is $33,185.90 on December 31, 2026.
- After 30 years: you put in $135,000.00, your employer $67,500.00, and growth adds $352,339.07, for a balance of $579,839.07 at 65.
What changes the result
Deferring less than the match limit
The formula only matches deferrals up to 6% of pay. At 4% instead of 6%, the same plan adds $1,500.00 a year instead of $2,250.00, and the balance at 65 is $423,790.59 instead of $579,839.07. Above the limit the match stops growing: at 10% the employer still adds $2,250.00.
Reaching the deferral limit
15% of a $200,000 salary is $30,000.00. At 45 that is above the $24,500 limit, so only $24,500.00 goes in. At 52, catch-up raises the limit to $32,500 and the full $30,000.00 fits, of which $5,500.00 counts as catch-up.
The ages 60 to 63
The most you can defer in a year depends on your age at the end of it: $24,500.00 at 49, $32,500.00 at 50, $32,500.00 at 59, $35,750.00 at 60, $35,750.00 at 63 and $32,500.00 at 64. The higher catch-up lasts only for the 4 years you turn 60 through 63; the table below the calculator shows the step up and back down.
A salary above the compensation limit
On $400,000, a 50% match up to 6% of pay is figured on $360,000, not the full salary, so the employer adds $10,800.00 rather than $12,000.00. The IRS gives the same kind of example: a 50% match on deferrals up to 5% of pay, on a salary above the limit, is figured on the limit.
Frequently asked questions
Does the employer match count toward my $24,500 limit?
No. The $24,500 limit is on your own elective deferrals. Employer contributions count toward the overall $72,000 limit, together with your deferrals other than catch-up.
What if I have two jobs with a 401(k) at each?
The deferral limit is per person: you add up your deferrals to every plan in the year. The overall limit applies to each unrelated employer's plans separately. This calculator follows one plan, so with two jobs enter only what you defer to this one and keep the total under $24,500 yourself.
Do my catch-up contributions have to be Roth?
Starting in 2026, if your plan offers Roth contributions and your wages from that employer in the year before were more than $150,000, your catch-up contributions must be made as Roth. That changes how the catch-up is taxed, not how much the calculator lets you put in.
What happens if I defer more than the limit?
The excess is an excess deferral. You ask the plan to pay it back to you, with its earnings, by April 15 of the following year (or an earlier date set by the plan); otherwise, the IRS explains, it is taxed twice, once in the year you deferred it and again when it is paid out. The calculator stops your deferrals at the limit instead.
Why do later years use the 2026 limits?
Because only the 2026 limits are published. The limits are subject to cost-of-living adjustments, and the IRS announced the 2026 amounts in Notice 2025-67. Every figure here links to the IRS page it was read from, with the year it applies to.
Sources
- IRS, Notice 2025-67: 2026 amounts relating to retirement plans and IRAs
- IRS, IR-2025-111: 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026
- IRS, Retirement topics: 401(k) and profit-sharing plan contribution limits
- IRS, Retirement topics: Catch-up contributions
- IRS, 401(k) plans: deferrals and matching when compensation exceeds the annual limit
- IRS, Retirement topics: What happens when an employee has elective deferrals in excess of the limits?
- SEC Investor.gov, Compound Interest Calculator (the same growth math)