Planning for retirement
401(k) Contribution Limits 2026: Every Limit, Catch-Up and IRA Number
The 401(k) contribution limit for 2026 is $24,500. If you're 50 or older you can add an $8,000 catch-up contribution, and if you turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 this year the catch-up is $11,250. Every other 2026 limit is in the table below, next to last year's number.
The short version
- 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans: $24,500 of your own pay in 2026, up from $23,500.
- Catch-up contributions for 2026: $8,000 from age 50, or $11,250 in the years you turn 60 through 63.
- IRA contribution limits for 2026: $7,500, plus $1,100 if you're 50 or older.
- New this year: if your 2025 wages from your employer topped $150,000, your 401(k) catch-up has to go in as Roth.
- The $24,500 follows you across jobs. Two 401(k)s in one year share one limit.
2026 contribution limits at a glance
These figures come from the IRS: its 2026 limits announcement of November 13, 2025, the notice behind it (Notice 2025-67), and Publication 969 for health savings accounts.
| Limit | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b): your own contributions | $23,500 | $24,500 |
| Catch-up, age 50 and older | $7,500 | $8,000 |
| Catch-up, turning 60, 61, 62 or 63 during the year | $11,250 | $11,250 |
| Total from you and your employer (catch-ups sit on top) | $70,000 | $72,000 |
| Traditional and Roth IRAs, combined | $7,000 | $7,500 |
| IRA catch-up, age 50 and older | $1,000 | $1,100 |
| SIMPLE IRA and SIMPLE 401(k) | $16,500 | $17,000 |
| SIMPLE catch-up, age 50 and older | $3,500 | $4,000 |
| SIMPLE catch-up, turning 60 through 63 | $5,250 | $5,250 |
| HSA, self-only coverage | $4,300 | $4,400 |
| HSA, family coverage | $8,550 | $8,750 |
| HSA catch-up, age 55 and older | $1,000 | $1,000 |
Add the rows together and you get the most an employee can put into a 401(k) from their own pay in 2026:
- Under 50: $24,500
- 50 through 59, or 64 and older: $32,500
- Turning 60, 61, 62 or 63: $35,750
Your age on December 31 decides which line you're on. Turn 50 on December 30, 2026 and the whole year counts as a catch-up year. Turn 64 in 2026 and you're back to the regular $8,000 catch-up.
Some SIMPLE plans at small employers carry a higher limit of $18,100 for 2026. Your plan's paperwork will say which one you have.
Income limits for IRAs in 2026
Anyone with earned income can put money into a traditional IRA. Income decides two other things: whether you can contribute to a Roth IRA, and whether a traditional IRA contribution is deductible when you also have a plan at work. Inside each range the amount shrinks, and above the range it's zero.
| Phase-out range (modified adjusted gross income) | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Roth IRA contribution: single or head of household | $150,000 to $165,000 | $153,000 to $168,000 |
| Roth IRA contribution: married filing jointly | $236,000 to $246,000 | $242,000 to $252,000 |
| Traditional IRA deduction: single, covered by a plan at work | $79,000 to $89,000 | $81,000 to $91,000 |
| Traditional IRA deduction: married filing jointly, you're covered at work | $126,000 to $146,000 | $129,000 to $149,000 |
| Traditional IRA deduction: you're not covered, your spouse is | $236,000 to $246,000 | $242,000 to $252,000 |
Married and filing separately? The range is $0 to $10,000 in both years, and it doesn't move with inflation. If neither you nor your spouse has a workplace plan, your traditional IRA contribution is deductible at any income.
A Roth 401(k) at work has no income limit at all.
Catch-up contributions in 2026: what changed
Two things are different from a couple of years ago. The higher catch-up for ages 60 through 63 started in 2025 and carries on at $11,250. And 2026 is the first year the Roth rule for higher earners applies.
The Roth catch-up rule for higher earners
If your wages from the employer that sponsors your plan were more than $150,000 in 2025, any catch-up contributions you make to that plan in 2026 have to be Roth. The money goes in after tax and comes out tax-free later, so you lose the up-front deduction on the catch-up portion only. Your regular $24,500 can still go in pre-tax.
The details matter here:
- Which wages count. Social Security wages from that one employer, the figure in Box 3 of your 2025 Form W-2. Pay from another job, your spouse's pay and investment income don't count.
- Which plans. 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans. IRA catch-ups and SIMPLE IRAs are outside the rule.
- Who's outside it. People with no Social Security wages from the plan's sponsor the year before. That includes a partner or sole proprietor with only self-employment income, and someone who started the job this year.
- The threshold moves. It was written into law as $145,000 and is adjusted for inflation. The IRS will publish the figure that governs 2027 catch-ups along with the other 2027 limits.
The rule comes from the SECURE 2.0 Act. It was due to start in 2024, and the IRS gave plans a two-year transition that ended on December 31, 2025. The IRS's catch-up contributions page confirms it applies beginning in 2026. Final regulations, published in September 2025, apply to contributions in tax years beginning after December 31, 2026. For 2026, plans are held to a reasonable, good-faith reading of the law.
How the limits work with two jobs
The $24,500 is a limit on you as a person, and every 401(k) you pay into during the year draws from it. Change jobs in June after putting $15,000 into the old 401(k), and you have $9,500 left for the new one. The same goes for two jobs at once, or a 401(k) plus a 403(b).
Your new employer's payroll system doesn't know what you contributed at the old job. Nobody is tracking the combined total except you, so tell the new plan or set your percentage to land under the limit.
Three wrinkles:
- 457(b) plans have their own limit. A teacher or city employee with both a 403(b) and a governmental 457(b) can put up to $24,500 into each.
- The catch-up is also one per person. Two 401(k) or 403(b) plans don't give you two catch-ups.
- The $72,000 total is counted employer by employer. All the plans of one employer, and of any related employer, share one $72,000. At two unrelated companies the IRS applies the limit to each plan separately, as its page on 401(k) contribution limits explains.
IRA limits are separate from all of this. You can max out a 401(k) and still put $7,500 into an IRA, subject to the income ranges above. And if you're moving an old plan into a new one, a rollover doesn't count toward any contribution limit. Our guide to rolling a 401(k) into a new employer's plan covers that move.
What happens if you over-contribute
It's fixable, and there's a deadline.
Too much in a 401(k)
Tell the plan how much you went over and ask for a corrective distribution. The plan has to pay out the excess, plus whatever it earned, by April 15 of the following year. For a 2026 excess that's April 15, 2027. The plan needs time to process it, so ask in January.
Fixed on time, the excess is taxed as 2026 income and the earnings are taxed in the year you receive them. There's no 10% early withdrawal tax on a timely correction.
Miss April 15 and the excess is taxed twice: once for the year you contributed it, and again when it eventually comes out of the plan. The IRS spells this out on its page about deferrals over the limit.
Too much in an IRA
This one is easy to do by accident, because your income can end up above the Roth range after you've already contributed. An excess IRA contribution is charged a 6% tax for every year it stays in the account.
To avoid it, take out the excess and any earnings on it by the due date of your tax return, extensions included. Your IRA custodian has a form for this. Ask for a removal of excess. The IRS explains the rule under IRA contribution limits.
Have the 2027 limits been announced?
Partly. When we checked on October 13, 2026, the IRS had published the 2027 HSA limits and nothing else.
- HSA, 2027: $4,500 for self-only coverage and $9,000 for family coverage, from Revenue Procedure 2026-24.
- 401(k), IRA and catch-up limits, 2027: not out yet. The IRS announces them in the fall. The 2026 figures came on November 13, 2025.
Forecasts from benefits firms circulate before then. They're estimates. We'd wait for the IRS notice before changing a payroll election.
Do you need to hit the limit?
No. These are ceilings. The employer match matters more than the maximum: contribute enough to collect all of it, then raise your rate as your budget allows. Our step-by-step retirement planning guide covers how much to save and where.
If you'd like to see where your balance stands against other people your age, our page on average retirement savings by age has the Federal Reserve's numbers. To work out a target of your own, start with how much you need to retire. And if you're 50 or older and deciding how to use the catch-up, retirement planning in your 50s goes through the choices.
For anything that turns on your own income or tax return, check IRS.gov or talk with a tax professional.
Common questions
What is the 401(k) contribution limit for 2026?
$24,500 of your own pay, up from $23,500 in 2025. With catch-up contributions the total is $32,500 if you're 50 or older, or $35,750 if you turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 during 2026.
Does my employer's match count toward the $24,500?
No. The $24,500 covers only what comes out of your pay. Employer contributions count toward a separate, larger limit of $72,000 for 2026.
What are the IRA contribution limits for 2026?
$7,500 across all your traditional and Roth IRAs combined, plus a $1,100 catch-up if you're 50 or older, for $8,600. You can't contribute more than your taxable compensation for the year.
Who gets the $11,250 catch-up?
Anyone in a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457(b) plan who turns 60, 61, 62 or 63 during the calendar year, if the plan offers it. In the year you turn 64 you go back to the regular catch-up, which is $8,000 for 2026.
Do catch-up contributions have to be Roth in 2026?
Only if your Social Security wages from the employer sponsoring the plan were more than $150,000 in 2025. Below that, you can still choose pre-tax or Roth if your plan offers both.
Can I contribute to a 401(k) and an IRA in the same year?
Yes. The limits are separate, so you can put $24,500 into a 401(k) and $7,500 into an IRA. Having a plan at work may limit whether a traditional IRA contribution is deductible, and your income may limit a Roth IRA contribution. Retirement investing for beginners explains how the two accounts differ.
We base our guides on primary sources such as the IRS, the Department of Labor, and federal regulators. Read our editorial policy. Spot an error? Tell us.
