Every year the IRS resets how much you can tuck into tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Knowing the 2026 limits — and the rules around them — helps you capture every dollar of shelter available.
The 2026 Numbers at a Glance
For 2026, you can contribute up to $24,500 to a 401(k), 403(b), or most 457 plans through salary deferrals — up from $23,500 the year before. Traditional and Roth IRAs share a separate, smaller ceiling of $7,500 for the year, also a modest bump from $7,000. These two buckets are independent, so a worker with access to both can contribute the full amount to each in the same tax year.
The IRS adjusts these figures roughly in line with inflation, which is why they creep upward most years rather than jumping. Because the increases are incremental, it’s easy to keep contributing last year’s amount out of habit and quietly leave new room unused. Raising your payroll deferral by the difference keeps you maxed without a noticeable hit to take-home pay.
One detail trips people up: the IRA limit is a combined cap across all your IRAs, not a figure per account. Splitting $7,500 between a traditional and a Roth IRA is fine, but the two together still can’t exceed the annual maximum. Your 401(k) deferral limit likewise applies across every employer plan you join during the year, which matters if you change jobs mid-year.
Treat the numbers here as a map, not a personalized plan — your income, filing status, and specific plan features all shape what actually applies to you.
How 401(k) Limits Actually Work
The $24,500 figure covers only what you defer from your paycheck. Employer contributions — matching or profit-sharing — sit on top of it. The combined ceiling for everything flowing into your account in 2026, your deferrals plus the employer’s, is far higher: $72,000. Most workers never approach that combined cap, but high earners with generous matches can.
That structure explains why the employer match is so often called the best deal in personal finance. If your plan matches 50 cents on the dollar up to 6% of pay, contributing at least 6% captures money that would otherwise never exist. Failing to contribute enough to earn the full match is one of the few genuinely avoidable mistakes in retirement saving.
Timing matters too. Your salary deferrals stop once you hit $24,500, but employer contributions can continue — which is why front-loading a 401(k) early in the year can accidentally cut off later matching in plans that match per pay period. Some plans offer a “true-up” that corrects this after year-end; others don’t, so it’s worth checking how yours works.
IRA Limits and the Income Rules That Come With Them
IRAs come with income rules that 401(k)s largely don’t. Anyone with earned income can contribute to a traditional IRA, but whether that contribution is tax-deductible depends on your income and whether you or a spouse is covered by a workplace plan. For 2026, a single filer covered by an employer plan sees the deduction phase out between roughly $81,000 and $91,000 of modified adjusted gross income.
Roth IRAs flip the tax treatment — you contribute after-tax dollars and withdraw qualified earnings tax-free — but they limit who can participate. In 2026, the ability to contribute to a Roth IRA phases out for single filers with modified adjusted gross income between about $153,000 and $168,000, and for joint filers between roughly $242,000 and $252,000. Above those ranges, direct Roth contributions aren’t permitted.
Earners above the Roth threshold sometimes make a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution and convert it — the so-called “backdoor” Roth — but the tax math depends heavily on other IRA balances you hold, thanks to the pro-rata rule. That’s exactly where general rules and your specific situation can diverge, and where a quick conversation with a tax professional often pays for itself.
One deadline works in your favor: IRA contributions for a given tax year can be made right up until the federal tax filing deadline the following April, not just by December 31. That extra window gives you months to fund the account and to decide how much you can actually spare.
Catch-Up Contributions After Age 50
Once you reach age 50, the tax code hands you extra room. In 2026, the 401(k) catch-up adds $8,000 on top of the standard deferral, lifting your personal limit to $32,500. IRA savers 50 and older get an additional $1,100 catch-up, raising their combined IRA cap to $8,600.
A newer wrinkle from the SECURE 2.0 law creates an enhanced catch-up for a narrow age band. Workers who are ages 60 through 63 during 2026 can make a “super catch-up” of about $11,250 in their workplace plan instead of the standard $8,000 — a window meant to help people accelerate savings in the final stretch before retirement. The larger amount applies only in those four years, then reverts.
SECURE 2.0 also changes how some catch-ups must be made. Beginning in 2026, employees whose wages from their employer topped roughly $145,000 the prior year (a threshold indexed for inflation) must make their 401(k) catch-up contributions as Roth — after-tax — rather than pre-tax. The catch-up still counts, but for those high earners it no longer trims this year’s taxable income.
Making the Limits Work for You
A sequence many savers follow is to contribute enough to a 401(k) to capture the full employer match first, then direct extra savings to an IRA for its broader investment menu, and finally return to the 401(k) to push toward the annual maximum. This is a framework, not a rule — the right order depends on your plan’s costs, your tax bracket, and your goals.
Watch for excess contributions. If you over-fund an IRA, or after switching jobs exceed the combined 401(k) deferral limit across two employers, the IRS can impose penalties until the excess is corrected. Catching it before the tax deadline usually lets you withdraw the extra plus earnings and sidestep the worst of it — one more reason to track contributions across every account.
Finally, a contribution limit is a ceiling, not a quota you’re obligated to fill. Maxing out is a powerful habit for those who can afford it, but consistently saving what fits your budget — and raising it as your income grows — matters more than any single year’s number. Because everyone’s finances differ, use these figures as a starting point and confirm the specifics for your situation on IRS.gov or with a qualified advisor.
