How to use this 401(k) calculator
- Enter your age, retirement age, salary and current balance. Your balance is on your latest 401(k) statement or your plan’s website.
- Enter your contribution and your employer’s match formula. The formula is in your plan’s summary plan description or benefits portal, usually written like “50% up to 6%.”
- Choose an expected return and yearly raise. Open “Inflation, fees & catch-up” to subtract fund fees, see your balance in today’s dollars or turn off catch-up contributions.
- Read the results: your balance at retirement, how much came from you, your employer and investment growth, and a year-by-year table. Copy the link to save or share your scenario.
How 401(k) employer matching works
An employer match is money your company adds to your 401(k) when you contribute. It is usually described as a percentage of your contributions up to a percentage of your salary. With a 50% match on up to 6% of pay and a $75,000 salary, contributing 6% earns the full $2,250 a year. Contributing only 3% leaves $1,125 of free money on the table every year. With growth, that missing match alone would be worth about $150,449 at 65 in our example; counting your own smaller contributions too, you would retire with about $451,348 less.
| You contribute | Your dollars | Employer match | Total per year | Match missed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2% | $1,500 | $750 | $2,250 | $1,500 |
| 3% | $2,250 | $1,125 | $3,375 | $1,125 |
| 4% | $3,000 | $1,500 | $4,500 | $750 |
| 6% | $4,500 | $2,250 | $6,750 | $0 |
| 8% | $6,000 | $2,250 | $8,250 | $0 |
| 10% | $7,500 | $2,250 | $9,750 | $0 |
Some employers use tiered formulas, such as 100% of the first 3% of pay plus 50% of the next 2%. That formula maxes out at a 4% match when you contribute 5%, so entering an 80% match up to 5% in the calculator gives the same result as long as you contribute at least 5%.
401(k) contribution limits for 2026
The IRS sets several limits each year. For 2026:
- $24,500 is the most you can contribute from your pay, counting traditional and Roth contributions together.
- $8,000 catch-up is allowed on top if you are 50 or older by the end of the year. If you turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 during the year, the catch-up is $11,250 instead.
- $72,000 (or 100% of your pay, if less) caps your contributions plus employer contributions, not counting catch-ups.
- $360,000 is the most salary your plan can count when figuring contributions and the match.
- Starting in 2026, if your prior-year wages from your employer were over $150,000, your catch-up contributions must go in as Roth (after-tax) contributions.
| Age at the end of 2026 | Your maximum | Maximum incl. employer money |
|---|---|---|
| Under 50 | $24,500 | $72,000 |
| 50–59 or 64 and older | $32,500 | $80,000 |
| 60, 61, 62 or 63 | $35,750 | $83,250 |
The calculator applies these limits every year and keeps them at 2026 levels. The IRS adjusts most of them for inflation, so future limits will likely be higher; if your contribution rate runs into the cap, your real ceiling in later years may be above what we show.
401(k) growth formula
When your contributions grow with your salary and stay under the IRS limits, the balance at retirement has a closed-form solution:
FV = B(1 + r)^n + C1 × s × ((1 + r)^n − (1 + g)^n) / (r − g)
- FV
- balance at retirement
- B
- current 401(k) balance
- C1
- first-year contributions: yours plus your employer’s
- r
- annual return after fees
- g
- annual salary increase
- n
- years until retirement
- s
- monthly-deposit factor = r ÷ (12 × ((1 + r)^(1/12) − 1)), because contributions arrive with each paycheck, not once a year
The calculator works year by year instead, so it can cap contributions at the IRS limits and add catch-up contributions from age 50.
Worked example
Take the default scenario: B = $25,000; C1 = $4,500 from you + $2,250 match = $6,750; r = 7%; g = 3%; n = 30; and s = 1.0317. Then (1 + r)n = 7.6123 and (1 + g)n = 2.4273. Your current balance grows to $25,000 × 7.6123 = $190,306.38, and your contributions grow to $6,750 × 1.0317 × (7.6123 − 2.4273) ÷ 0.04 = $902,696.47. The total is $1,093,002.85, the $1,093,003 shown by the calculator. Divided by (1 + 2.5%)30 = 2.0976, that is $521,081 in today’s dollars.
How much will my 401(k) be worth at 65?
Balances at age 65 from a $0 start with a 50% match on up to 6% of pay, 3% yearly raises and 7% annual returns, by salary today, starting age and contribution rate:
| Salary and starting age | 5% contribution | 10% contribution | 15% contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 salary, starting at 25 | $1,359,405 | $2,356,303 | $3,262,573 |
| $60,000 salary, starting at 35 | $601,798 | $1,043,116 | $1,444,314 |
| $60,000 salary, starting at 45 | $239,509 | $415,149 | $574,822 |
| $90,000 salary, starting at 25 | $2,039,108 | $3,534,454 | $4,834,308* |
| $90,000 salary, starting at 35 | $902,696 | $1,564,674 | $2,166,472 |
| $90,000 salary, starting at 45 | $359,264 | $622,724 | $862,233 |
* Contributions reach the 2026 IRS limit in later years (catch-up included from 50), so the balance is lower than the percentage alone would give.
Starting early makes a big difference: at a $60,000 salary and 10%, starting at 25 instead of 35 turns $1,043,116 into $2,356,303, 2.3 times as much, because the early contributions compound the longest. Explore that effect with our compound interest calculator.
Traditional vs. Roth 401(k)
Many plans offer both. They share the same $24,500 limit, and you can split your contributions between them.
- Traditional 401(k): contributions come out of your pay before federal income tax, lowering your tax bill now. Withdrawals, including all the growth, are taxed as ordinary income.
- Roth 401(k): contributions are made after tax. Qualified withdrawals of contributions and earnings are tax-free: the account must be at least 5 years old and you must be 59½ or older, disabled or deceased.
- Employer match: it goes into the pre-tax side unless your plan lets you choose Roth matching contributions, which are taxable in the year they are made and only available once you are fully vested.
- Required distributions: pre-tax 401(k) money generally must start coming out at age 73 (75 if you were born in 1960 or later), or later if you are still working for the employer and your plan allows it; Roth 401(k) accounts no longer require withdrawals during the owner’s lifetime.
Roth tends to win if you expect a higher tax rate in retirement than today; traditional tends to win if you expect a lower one. Both kinds are still subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. See how a pre-tax contribution changes your take-home pay with our paycheck calculator.
Vesting: when the match becomes yours
Money you contribute from your paycheck is always 100% vested. Employer contributions can be subject to a vesting schedule, and the slowest schedules allowed for matching contributions are a 3-year cliff (0% until you complete 3 years of service, then 100%) or 6-year graded vesting (20% after 2 years, then 20% more each year until 100% after 6 years). Many plans vest faster. This calculator assumes you keep all of the match, so if you might change jobs soon, check your plan’s schedule before counting on it.
How fees affect your 401(k)
Fund expense ratios and plan fees come out of your returns every year, and the gap compounds. In the Department of Labor’s example, $25,000 left alone for 35 years at 7% grows to about $226,556 with 0.5% in fees but only $162,846 with 1.5%, a 28% smaller balance from a 1-point difference. For the default scenario above, with ongoing contributions:
| Annual fees | Balance at 65 | Cost of fees | Share of balance lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% a year | $1,093,003 | — | — |
| 0.25% a year | $1,043,544 | $49,459 | 4.5% |
| 0.5% a year | $996,656 | $96,347 | 8.8% |
| 1% a year | $910,042 | $182,961 | 16.7% |
| 1.5% a year | $832,138 | $260,865 | 23.9% |
A 1% annual fee costs about $182,961 by 65 in this example. Check the expense ratio of each fund in your plan’s fee disclosure; low-cost index funds, when available, keep more of the growth in your account.
Early withdrawals: the 10% penalty and exceptions
Money taken out of a 401(k) before age 59½ is generally taxed as income and hit with an additional 10% tax on the taxable amount. The main exceptions for 401(k) plans are:
- Rule of 55: you leave your job during or after the year you turn 55 (50, or after 25 years of service, for certain public safety employees such as police officers and firefighters in government plans). It applies to the plan of the job you leave, not to IRAs.
- Total and permanent disability, or death (payments to your beneficiaries).
- Unreimbursed medical expenses above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.
- A series of substantially equal periodic payments, or payments to an ex-spouse under a qualified domestic relations order.
- Up to $5,000 per child for a birth or adoption, one emergency withdrawal of up to $1,000 a year, and limited amounts for victims of domestic abuse or terminally ill employees.
A hardship withdrawal is not automatically exempt from the 10% tax. To plan the years after you stop working, try our retirement calculator, and see what your balance will buy in future dollars with our inflation calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I contribute to my 401(k)?
At a minimum, contribute enough to get your employer’s full match, because the match is an immediate return on your money. In our example ($75,000 salary, 50% match on up to 6% of pay), contributing 3% instead of 6% gives up $1,125 of match a year; with growth, that missing match alone is worth about $150,449 by age 65. Beyond the match, raise your rate a little each year as your budget allows, up to the $24,500 IRS limit.
What is the 401(k) contribution limit for 2026?
For 2026, you can contribute up to $24,500 of your pay to a 401(k). If you are 50 or older by the end of the year you can add a catch-up contribution of $8,000 ($32,500 in total), and if you turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 the catch-up is $11,250 instead ($35,750 in total). Your contributions plus employer money cannot exceed $72,000, not counting catch-ups.
Does the employer match count toward the $24,500 limit?
No. The $24,500 limit applies only to your own traditional and Roth contributions. Employer matching and profit-sharing contributions count toward the separate overall limit on annual additions: the lesser of 100% of your pay or $72,000 for 2026, with catch-up contributions allowed on top. That is why someone who maxes out can still receive the full match.
What does a 50% match up to 6% mean?
It means your employer adds 50 cents for every dollar you contribute, on contributions up to 6% of your salary. On a $75,000 salary, contributing 6% ($4,500) earns $2,250 of match, a total of $6,750 a year. Contributing more than 6% still helps you save, but it does not increase the match.
How much will I have in my 401(k) at 65?
It depends mostly on how early you start, how much you save and your returns. A 35-year-old earning $75,000 who contributes 6% with a 50% match on up to 6% of pay, starts with $25,000 and earns 7% a year would have about $1,093,003 at 65, or $521,081 in today’s dollars at 2.5% inflation. Our reference table on this page shows other salaries, starting ages and contribution rates.
How much monthly income will my 401(k) provide?
A common rule of thumb is to withdraw about 4% of your savings in the first year of retirement and adjust for inflation after that. On the $521,081 (today’s dollars) from our example, 4% is about $1,737 a month before taxes. Treat it as a starting point rather than a guarantee, and use our retirement calculator to test your full plan.
What happens to my employer match if I leave my job?
Your own contributions are always 100% yours, but employer contributions may follow a vesting schedule. The slowest schedules the law allows for matching contributions are a 3-year cliff (nothing until 3 years of service, then 100%) or 6-year graded vesting (20% after 2 years, rising to 100% after 6). If you leave before you are fully vested, you forfeit the unvested part of the match.
Can I take money out of my 401(k) before 59½?
Yes, if your plan allows it, but withdrawals of pre-tax money are taxed as income and usually cost an extra 10% tax before age 59½. Exceptions include leaving your employer in or after the year you turn 55 (the “rule of 55”), total and permanent disability, certain medical expenses, qualified birth or adoption expenses up to $5,000 per child, and substantially equal periodic payments.