401(k) Contribution Limits for 2026: $24,500 Plus Catch-Ups

The 2026 employee deferral limit for a 401(k) is $24,500, up from $23,500 in 2025, according to the IRS announcement of 2026 limits. If the plan permits catch-up contributions, the total can reach $32,500 at ages 50–59 or 64 and older, or $35,750 for someone turning 60–63 in 2026. Eligible compensation and plan limits can reduce these amounts. The separate annual-additions ceiling, excluding catch-ups, is the lower of $72,000 or 100% of compensation.

Quick answer

• $24,500 is your own deferral limit for 2026, across pre-tax and Roth 401(k) combined. It is not per plan, it is per person.
• If permitted, age 50+ adds $8,000; ages 60–63 may use $11,250 instead. They do not stack; compensation limits still apply.
• If your 2025 FICA wages from that employer topped $150,000, your 2026 catch-up must be Roth. No pre-tax deduction on it.
• Employer match does not use your $24,500 deferral allowance. Ordinary annual additions, including the match, cannot exceed the lower of $72,000 or 100% of compensation.
• If a job change led to excess deferrals, contact the administrator promptly about correction by April 15, 2027. The IRS correction rules describe the potential double taxation.

Three separate ceilings, and only one of them is $24,500

Most people think there's one 401(k) limit. There are three, and they interact in ways that decide whether you can save $32,500 this year or $80,000.

The first is the elective deferral limit under Code section 402(g): $24,500 in 2026. That's money out of your paycheck, pre-tax or Roth, and it follows you, not the plan. Two jobs in one year means one shared $24,500, and nobody's payroll system is watching the other employer's.

The catch-up limit depends on your age at year-end and the features your plan offers. The IRS catch-up guidance lists $8,000 for eligible workers age 50 or older in 2026, replaced by $11,250 at ages 60–63. Someone turning 64 returns to the regular catch-up limit. A plan must permit the applicable catch-up, and contributions cannot exceed eligible compensation.

The IRS annual-additions rules cap ordinary employee and employer contributions at the lower of $72,000 or 100% of compensation in 2026. Deferrals, matching, profit sharing and non-Roth after-tax contributions count. Permitted catch-ups sit outside that ceiling: with sufficient compensation and plan capacity, the dollar maximum including catch-ups is $80,000, or $83,250 at ages 60–63.

2025 versus 2026, every number that moved

Source: IRS cost-of-living adjustment tables for 2026. The catch-up rows assume the plan permits those contributions. A 457(b) has a separate limit and is not part of the shared 401(k)/403(b) deferral bucket; see the IRS rules for participants in multiple plans.

401(k) limits with two employers or a midyear job change

Changing jobs does not restart your employee contribution allowance. For someone under 50 in 2026, ordinary pre-tax and Roth 401(k) deferrals across both jobs share the $24,500 limit. The IRS multiple-plan rules explain aggregation; use the 2026 limits announcement for this year's dollar amount because examples on the multiple-plan page use older years.

Suppose Alex, age 40, contributed $12,000 at the first job and $4,500 at the second. The remaining employee allowance is $24,500 − $12,000 − $4,500 = $8,000. With eight paychecks left, that is $1,000 per paycheck, assuming sufficient eligible pay and the new plan permits that election. This example excludes catch-ups and other retirement plans.

1. Collect year-to-date pre-tax and Roth employee deferrals from both payroll records. Keep employer matching and non-Roth after-tax contributions separate.
2. Tell the new administrator what you already contributed and check election deadlines, compensation limits and the plan's matching provisions.
3. Reconcile the totals after each remaining paycheck; one employer's payroll may not track the other.
4. If the combined total already exceeds your limit, contact the administrators promptly about the correction process described below.

Employer matching does not consume the personal employee-deferral allowance, but it counts toward applicable annual-additions limits. A separate employer or solo 401(k) does not create another personal deferral allowance. For account differences, see 401(k) versus IRA.

Roth 401(k) money uses the same $24,500 bucket

Pre-tax and designated Roth 401(k) deferrals share the same limit: $12,250 in each totals $24,500. Pre-tax deferrals generally reduce current federal taxable income; Roth deferrals do not. Under the IRS designated Roth account FAQs, a qualified distribution generally requires five taxable years of participation and age 59½, death or disability. The five-year clock is not simply five years from the account-opening date.

An employee Roth election does not automatically make the employer match Roth. Check which sources your plan offers and how contributions are recorded; employer contributions still count toward the annual-additions limit.

Which prior-year wages trigger Roth catch-ups?

This is the real change for 2026, not the $1,000 bump in the deferral limit.

The IRS catch-up guidance applies the Roth requirement in 2026 when prior-year FICA wages from the plan sponsor exceeded $150,000. The IRS explanation of the final regulations distinguishes the end of transition relief after 2025 from the regulations generally applying in 2027. Plans may use a reasonable, good-faith interpretation for earlier years; some plan types have later regulatory applicability dates.

Use the applicable employer wage figure, not household income or all income combined. The final rules permit aggregation across certain employers, so two separate W-2s alone do not establish an exemption. If you changed employers or the plan has no Roth feature, ask the administrator how its catch-up provisions apply before changing payroll elections.

For illustration, $8,000 multiplied by a 32% federal marginal rate is $2,560 of current tax reduction forgone compared with a deductible contribution. Whether Roth treatment is favorable over a lifetime depends on future tax rates, withdrawal eligibility and your circumstances; the arithmetic alone does not decide that.

Worked example: nine paychecks remaining

Consider a hypothetical employee, Priya, age 54, earning $180,000 over 26 equal paychecks. Her plan permits the regular catch-up and matches 50% of contributions up to 6% of pay. Her 2025 FICA wages from this employer were $174,000, above the 2026 Roth catch-up threshold.

Assume 17 paychecks have been paid and nine remain. At a 10% deferral rate, $180,000 ÷ 26 × 10% × 17 is about $11,769 contributed. Reaching $32,500 requires another $20,731, or about $2,303.42 per remaining paycheck. That is approximately 33.27% of gross pay. Actual payroll rounding and permitted election increments matter; confirm the amount before submitting an election.

Here's how her buckets fill: $24,500 pre-tax deferral, $8,000 Roth catch-up (mandatory, given her 2025 wages), and $5,400 of employer match, which is 3% of $180,000. Against the 415(c) limit, only $29,900 counts, the deferral plus the match. That leaves $42,100 of unused annual additions room.

Her theoretical non-Roth after-tax room is $72,000 − $24,500 − $5,400 = $42,100. That is usable only if the plan allows it and other plan limits or nondiscrimination testing do not reduce it. Schwab’s mega backdoor Roth explainer describes the additional conversion or eligible rollover step; accumulated earnings can create tax. This is different from the IRA-based backdoor Roth IRA strategy.

The compensation cap quietly shrinks big matches

Earn $500,000 with a 5% match and you don't get $25,000. Only $360,000 of pay counts for 2026 under 401(a)(17), per the IRS, so the match maxes at $18,000. Anyone negotiating comp or modeling a job change at that income level should run the match off the capped number, not the salary.

An unrelated employer’s plan may have a separate annual-additions limit, but a solo 401(k) is still constrained by eligible self-employment earnings and contribution rules. Opening one does not automatically create another $72,000 of usable room. The personal elective-deferral limit remains shared.

When maxing out is the wrong call

The legal maximum is a ceiling, not a personalized savings target. Consider the following trade-offs before choosing a payroll percentage.

• Debt costs. Compare the interest cost of outstanding debt with the match available and the uncertainty of investment returns. A market return is not guaranteed; the right allocation depends on your rates, cash flow and plan terms.
• No cash buffer. The CFPB emergency-fund guide explains how savings can reduce reliance on borrowing after a financial shock. Size accessible reserves around your expenses and income stability; there is no single required cash target for everyone.
• Tax timing. The Roth catch-up requirement does not by itself require the base deferral to be Roth. Compare current and expected withdrawal-year tax treatment, while recognizing that future tax rates and personal income are uncertain.

A match adds employer money according to the plan formula, but it is not a guaranteed investment return. Your own deferrals are vested; employer contributions may vest over time, as the Department of Labor explains. Compare the match you can retain, plan fees, investment choices and cash needs rather than assuming fees can never matter.

Four mistakes that cost real money

Front-loading without a true-up. If you stop deferrals after reaching your applicable limit, later paychecks may lose a match tied to that period’s contributions. A year-end true-up may restore it, depending on the plan. Check the summary plan description and whether catch-up deferrals qualify for matching.

Double deferring after a job change. Your new employer's payroll starts your deferral counter at zero. Two W-2s, two systems, one $24,500 limit, and the excess is yours to catch.

Missing the April 15 correction window. The IRS 401(k) fix-it guide describes returning excess deferrals plus attributable earnings by April 15 of the following year. For 2026, that is April 15, 2027. Contact the administrator promptly because its notification deadline may be earlier. Untimely correction can result in double taxation and other consequences; do not treat an ordinary withdrawal as the correction.

Assuming every catch-up is available. At age 61, $35,750 is possible only if the higher catch-up is permitted. A plan offering just the regular catch-up may allow $32,500; a plan without catch-ups may allow neither increase. Compensation and other plan limits still apply.

Do this before your next paycheck

Find your year-to-date employee deferrals across all applicable plans and the number of paychecks remaining. After confirming your permitted limit, calculate the remaining contribution needed and the payroll percentage it implies. Check affordability, the match schedule and payroll rounding before changing the election, then review the final paychecks.

If you are catch-up eligible, confirm the applicable prior-year employer wage figure and how the plan handles Roth catch-ups. For a longer-term projection, use the 401(k) calculator; it currently models base contributions and matching, not age-based catch-ups or personal tax eligibility.