Four months into the year is exactly the right time to check one number on your pay stub: your 401(k) contribution rate. Set it in January and there’s still time to spread a change across the remaining paychecks; discover in November that you’re $6,000 under the limit and the math gets ugly. So here are all of the 2026 retirement contribution limits in one place — the 401(k) numbers, the catch-ups, the IRA figures, and the income phase-outs — every one of them straight from the IRS.

The source for everything below is the IRS’s annual cost-of-living announcement, IR-2025-111, and the technical guidance behind it, Notice 2025-67.

The headline number: $24,500

For 2026, you can defer up to $24,500 of your own pay into a 401(k), 403(b), most governmental 457 plans, or the federal Thrift Savings Plan — up from $23,500 in 2025. Spread over 26 biweekly paychecks, maxing out means about $942 per check; over 24 semimonthly checks, about $1,021.

Two clarifications that answer most reader mail. First, this limit covers your contributions only — employer matching money sits on top of it and doesn’t eat into your $24,500. Second, the limit is per person, not per job: if you change employers mid-year, your combined deferrals at both jobs share the one cap, and it’s on you to track it, because neither payroll department can see the other.

Age 50 or older: $32,500. Ages 60 to 63: $35,750

The regular catch-up contribution for workers 50 and over rises to $8,000 for 2026, which brings the total most people in that group can defer to $32,500.

And the “super catch-up” created by the SECURE 2.0 law is in its second year: if you are 60, 61, 62, or 63 at the end of 2026, your catch-up limit is $11,250 instead of $8,000 — a total of $35,750. The window closes at 64, when you drop back to the standard catch-up. If you’re in that four-year band and behind on retirement savings, this is the most generous deferral opportunity the tax code has ever offered.

New this year: higher earners’ catch-ups must be Roth

2026 is the first year of another SECURE 2.0 change worth flagging: if your wages from your employer topped $150,000 in 2025, any catch-up contributions you make now must go into a Roth (after-tax) account rather than pre-tax, per the thresholds in Notice 2025-67 and the IRS’s catch-up contribution rules. You lose today’s deduction on that slice, but the money comes out tax-free later. If your plan doesn’t offer a Roth option, affected employees may not be able to make catch-ups at all — a question worth asking HR this month, not in December.

IRAs: $7,500, plus a $1,100 catch-up

The IRA contribution limit rises to $7,500 for 2026, up from $7,000, and the age-50 catch-up — now inflation-indexed for the first time — ticks up to $1,100. That’s a maximum of $8,600 for savers 50 and over, across traditional and Roth IRAs combined.

Whether you can deduct a traditional IRA contribution depends on income and whether a workplace plan covers you. For 2026, the deduction phases out between $81,000 and $91,000 of income for single filers covered by a plan at work, and between $129,000 and $149,000 for joint filers when the contributing spouse is covered. If you’re not covered but your spouse is, the phase-out runs from $242,000 to $252,000. No workplace plan for either of you? The deduction has no income limit at all.

Roth IRA eligibility phases out between $153,000 and $168,000 for single filers and heads of household, and between $242,000 and $252,000 for joint filers.

The smaller-print limits: SIMPLE plans and the Saver’s Credit

Workers in SIMPLE retirement plans — common at small employers — can contribute $17,000 in 2026 (some plans qualify for a higher $18,100 figure), with a $4,000 catch-up at 50-plus and a $5,250 catch-up at ages 60 to 63.

And don’t overlook the Saver’s Credit, a tax credit of up to half of your first $2,000 in retirement contributions for lower- and moderate-income households. For 2026 it’s available up to $80,500 of income for joint filers, $60,375 for heads of household, and $40,250 for singles. It stacks on top of the deduction — a rare case of the tax code paying you twice for the same good habit.

What to actually do with these numbers

Most people shouldn’t fixate on the max — the national personal savings rate says most households can’t get near $24,500, and that’s fine. The practical checklist is shorter. Contribute at least enough to collect your full employer match; that’s a guaranteed return no market offers. If you got a raise this year, push your percentage up before the raise disappears into spending. If you turned 50 — or better, 60 — this year, tell your payroll system, because catch-up eligibility is based on the age you reach by December 31, and plans don’t always raise your ceiling automatically.

And if you’re self-employed on the side, note that these employee limits are only part of your picture — SEP-IRAs and solo 401(k)s have their own, larger math, which we’ll cover separately.

Eight months of paychecks remain in 2026. That’s exactly enough time to make whichever of these limits applies to you actually happen.

This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.