401(k) contribution limits 2026: your own deferral limit
The IRS raised the employee limit for 2026 and kept the age 60 to 63 catch-up where it was. Enter the year you were born and your pay: the calculator applies the December 31 age test and the pay cap.
Your 2026 deferral limit
$32,500
age 50 catch-up, age 51 on December 31, 2026.
| Base limit | $24,500 |
| Catch-up (age 50 catch-up) | $8,000 |
| Catch-up must be Roth | no |
| Per month to reach it | $2,708 |
Roth catch-up rule: required when 2025 FICA wages from the employer exceed $150,000 (Notice 2025-67).
Worked out by Radif Partners · How we calculate · limits read on irs.gov · not personal financial advice
For 2026 you can defer up to $24,500 of your pay into a 401(k), a 403(b), a governmental 457(b) or the Thrift Savings Plan, against $23,500 in 2025 (Notice 2025-67). If you are 50 or older on December 31, 2026, you may add a catch-up of $8,000, for $32,500 in all; in the calendar years you turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 the catch-up is $11,250 instead, for $35,750. The limit belongs to you, not to the plan: two employers in the same year share one $24,500. It also cannot exceed your pay. A worker born in 1975 with $110,000 of salary turns 51 in 2026 and can defer $32,500; a part-time worker born in 1992 earning $18,000 is held to $18,000, the whole of that pay. Employer money is counted elsewhere and does not use up this limit.
2025 against 2026, by age
| Your age at the end of the year | 2025 limit | 2026 limit | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 50 on December 31 | $23,500 | $24,500 | $1,000 |
| 50 to 59, or 64 and over | $31,000 | $32,500 | $1,500 |
| 60, 61, 62 or 63 | $34,750 | $35,750 | $1,000 |
The base amount rose by $1,000, the standard catch-up by $500. The age 60 to 63 amount did not move, because the law ties it to 150 % of the 2024 standard catch-up ($7,500), and after indexing and rounding it stayed at $11,250. That is why the gain is $1,500 at 55 but only $1,000 at 61. The full set of 2026 amounts is in IRS news release IR-2025-111.
The December 31 age test
Section 414(v) looks at the age you reach by the end of the calendar year, not at your age on the day you contribute. Someone born on December 30, 1976 turns 50 on the next to last day of 2026 and may start the $8,000 catch-up from the first paycheck in January. Plans usually let you set the extra percentage at any time during the year, so a person who learns this in October can still raise the deferral rate for the last few pay dates.
The same test sets the upper tier. Born in 1964, you reach 62 on December 31, 2026, and your limit is $35,750 for the whole year. A worker who turns 64 in 2026 falls back to the standard $8,000; the age 60 to 63 page lists the birth years and the four calendar years for each.
Your 2026 limit for a birth year
Your 2026 deferral limit
$32,500
| Base limit | $24,500 |
| Catch-up (age 50 catch-up) | $8,000 |
| Catch-up must be Roth | no |
| Per month to reach it | $2,708 |
Your pay sets a ceiling too
A deferral is a share of compensation, so it can never be larger than what the employer pays you during the year. For most full-time workers this never matters. It does for students, part-timers, people who retire early in the year and spouses working a few months. The worker earning $18,000 could in theory defer every dollar of it, though payroll still has to withhold Social Security and Medicare tax, and most plans cap the deferral rate at a percentage such as 75 % or 90 %. In practice the plan's own maximum rate is often the limit you hit first.
One limit per person across every employer
The $24,500 is set by section 402(g) and is personal. If you defer $15,000 at a job you leave in June, your next 401(k) can take only $9,500 more for 2026 (plus your catch-up, which is also shared). The new employer has no record of what you put in before: telling payroll is your job. The page on maxing out shows how to spread what is left over the remaining paychecks and what to do if the two plans together went over.
A 403(b) shares the same limit with a 401(k). A governmental 457(b) does not: it has its own $24,500, so a teacher with both plans can defer twice (see 457(b) limits). The TSP is treated as a 401(k) for this purpose, which means a federal employee with a side job that offers a 401(k) has one limit for both.
What the limit does not include
Employer matching and profit sharing are outside the $24,500. They count, with your own deferrals, toward a larger ceiling of $72,000 or 100 % of pay, explained on the employer contribution page. After-tax contributions, where a plan allows them, also sit under that larger ceiling and not under the employee limit. Your IRA limit of $7,500 is separate from both.
Check the cap on a small salary
Your 2026 deferral limit
$24,500
| Base limit | $24,500 |
| Catch-up (no catch-up yet) | $0 |
| Catch-up must be Roth | no catch-up |
| Per month to reach it | $2,042 |
Catch-up for high earners: the Roth condition
From 2026 a catch-up made by someone whose 2025 Social Security wages from the employer exceeded $150,000 must go in as Roth. The amount you may contribute does not change, only its tax treatment: the base $24,500 can still be pre-tax. The calculator's folded field for 2025 FICA wages applies this test. The Roth catch-up page covers the details, including what happens in a plan with no Roth option (final regulations, IR-2025-91).
Only paychecks dated in 2026 count
An IRA lets you contribute for 2026 until the April 2027 filing deadline. A 401(k) does not work that way. Elective deferrals are taken from pay, so the year they count for is the year the paycheck is paid: a bonus for 2026 work that arrives on January 8, 2027 is a 2027 deferral, under the 2027 limit. If you are short of the limit in December, the last regular pay date of the year is the real deadline, and payroll often needs the new election a week or two before it. Year end bonuses are a common place to catch up, provided the plan's definition of compensation includes them; some plans exclude bonuses from deferrals entirely, which you can check in the summary plan description.
Beware of last year's table
A number of pages that come up for this query still print $23,500 as the current limit, or show the 2023 figure of $22,500 in a "2026" headline. A payroll setup built on those amounts leaves $1,000 or more unused for the year. The official list is the IRS cost of living page (COLA increases), and the year by year table on this site is copied from it.