Enter your age, salary, contribution rate, and match. We project your retirement balance with 2026 IRS limits.
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This calculator applies the 2026 IRS limits, including the age 50+ and age 60-63 catch-up rules.
Three things move your 401(k) balance, and only one of them is fully in your control: what you contribute. The other two, your employer's match and the market's return, do a lot of the heavy lifting if you show up for them.
The IRS caps how much you personally can defer each year (that is the elective deferral limit), but it does not cap your employer's match, and it does not cap the compound growth on money that is already in the account. Miss the match and you are turning down free money. Ignore the limit and you might be leaving contribution room on the table in a high-income year.
The IRS sets a new elective deferral limit every year, usually announced each November for the following year. For 2026, the limits are:
$24,500 total elective deferral. This is the most you can have withheld from your own paycheck into the plan, combining traditional (pre-tax) and Roth 401(k) contributions.
$24,500 base plus an $8,000 catch-up contribution, for a total of $32,500.
Starting in 2025, SECURE 2.0 created a larger catch-up specifically for savers who are age 60, 61, 62, or 63 in the plan year. For 2026 that super catch-up is $11,250, for a total of $35,750. Turn 64 and the limit drops back to the standard $32,500 age 50+ catch-up.
Per Vanguard's "How America Saves" report, the single most common 401(k) match structure is 50% of the first 6% of salary you contribute. On a $75,000 salary, contributing 6% ($4,500) gets you a $2,250 match, an instant 50% return on that slice of your paycheck before the market does anything at all.
Contribute less than 6% under that structure and you are leaving part of that match unclaimed. Contribute more than 6% and the extra still grows for you, just without the match multiplier. Check your own plan document. Match formulas vary by employer, and some plans match dollar-for-dollar instead of 50 cents on the dollar.
Take that same default scenario through to age 65: a 30-year horizon, $75,000 starting salary growing 2% a year, a 10% contribution rate, a $25,000 starting balance, the 50%-up-to-6% match, and a 7% annual return compounding on the whole balance every year. The calculator's own year-by-year loop finishes at $1,321,481. Break that number into its three sources: your own paycheck contributions total $304,261 over the 30 years, your employer's match adds $91,278, and investment growth on top of both, the compounding this page is really about, accounts for $900,942, well over two-thirds of the final balance. Change any input above (age, salary, contribution rate, match, return, or salary growth) and the calculator reruns this exact three-way split on your own numbers.
That growth share is the entire argument for starting early. Run the identical $75,000 salary, 10% contribution rate, and 50%-up-to-6% match starting at age 45 instead of 35, only 20 years to retirement instead of 30, and the same calculator finishes at $561,571, less than half the $1,321,481 the 35-year-old start produces. Ten fewer years of contributions is part of that gap, but the larger piece is ten fewer years of 7% compounding on the balance itself, which is why the calculator's own math rewards an early start more than it rewards a higher contribution rate started later.
This calculator uses a standard annual accumulation model: each year, your existing balance grows at your expected return, then that year's employee contribution (capped at the IRS limit for your age that year) and employer match are added. Salary is assumed to grow at the rate you set, compounding annually. The monthly income estimate is a simplified straight-line calculation (final balance divided by drawdown years and 12) and does not model investment returns during retirement or sequence-of-returns risk. For a full retirement drawdown model, see the Retirement Withdrawal Calculator.
The 2026 limits above apply the same whether your contributions go into a traditional (pre-tax) 401(k), a Roth (after-tax) 401(k), or split between both; the IRS elective deferral cap is a combined limit across both types, not a separate limit for each. What differs is when the tax bill comes due. A traditional 401(k) contribution lowers your taxable income this year, and the entire withdrawal, contributions and growth alike, is taxed as ordinary income when you take it out in retirement. A Roth 401(k) contribution is made with money you have already paid tax on, and qualified withdrawals in retirement, including all the growth, come out tax-free.
This calculator, like most balance projectors, shows one pre-tax-equivalent number and does not subtract the eventual tax bill on a traditional account or account for the smaller current paycheck a Roth contribution produces. On the default scenario's $1,321,481 projected balance, a saver in a traditional 401(k) would owe ordinary income tax on withdrawals in retirement, while a saver who put the same dollar amounts into a Roth 401(k) would have paid tax on that money already and would see the full $1,321,481 available tax-free. Which one nets more in retirement depends heavily on whether your tax rate in retirement ends up higher or lower than your tax rate today, a comparison this tool intentionally leaves to you and a tax professional rather than assuming.
It does not model a Roth 401(k) or after-tax contributions separately, it treats all contributions the same way for growth purposes. It does not model changes to your salary growth rate, contribution rate, or the IRS limit over multiple decades beyond the flat assumptions you enter. It does not account for taxes owed when you withdraw from a traditional 401(k) in retirement. If you are self-employed with no W-2 employer plan, see the Solo 401(k) Contribution Calculator instead, since Solo 401(k) and SEP-IRA limits work differently.
$24,500 for savers under 50. Age 50 and up can add an $8,000 catch-up for $32,500 total. Age 60 through 63 gets the SECURE 2.0 super catch-up of $11,250 instead, for $35,750 total.
No. Your elective deferral limit only covers what comes out of your own paycheck. Employer contributions are separate, subject to a much higher combined cap.
Check your plan document. The most common structure is 50% of the first 6% you contribute, meaning contributing at least 6% captures the full match under that formula.
Yes, just without the match multiplier on the extra. Running this calculator's own defaults at both a 6% and a 10% contribution rate produces the identical $91,278 employer match total either way, since the match formula stops looking past 6% of pay. The additional 4% in the 10% scenario still compounds at the same 7% return as everything else in the account; it simply is not doubled by an employer match the way the first 6% is.
On this calculator's default 35-year-old saver reaching age 65, the $1,321,481 projected balance breaks down to $304,261 from your own paycheck contributions, $91,278 from the employer match, and $900,942 from investment growth, more than two-thirds of the total. That growth share is also why starting later costs more than it looks: the identical inputs starting at 45 instead of 35 finish at $561,571, less than half as much, mostly from losing ten years of compounding rather than ten years of contributions.
No. This calculator projects account growth from the inputs you provide. It is not a recommendation of any investment, fund, or contribution strategy, and actual returns are never guaranteed.
Disclaimer. This calculator is designed to estimate potential 401(k) growth based on the inputs you provide. It is not investment advice, a guarantee of any future account value, or a recommendation of any specific investment. Actual returns vary and are not guaranteed. IRS contribution limits are updated annually each November. This calculator displays the current limit as of its last update, but you should verify the latest figure at IRS.gov before making contribution decisions. This calculator models a traditional (pre-tax) 401(k) and does not model Roth 401(k) or after-tax contributions separately. Drawdown estimates assume equal monthly distributions and do not account for taxes in retirement or sequence-of-returns risk. Consult a licensed financial advisor or your plan administrator for personalized retirement planning guidance.