401(k) Employer Match Calculator

Find the contribution rate that captures every matched dollar your employer offers, and see what any match you are missing would have been worth.

A 50% match is a 50% return, paid the day the money lands

An employer match is the closest thing to a guaranteed immediate return in personal finance, and the qualifier does real work: it's guaranteed once you're vested, and not a day before. A plan that pays 50 cents on the dollar for the first 6% of your salary hands you 50% on that money the moment payroll runs, before it has been invested in anything at all. Nothing sold to the public does that. A three-year cliff under IRC §411(a)(2) can still claw the whole lot back if you leave in month 35. If you're contributing below the line your plan matches to, fix that before you read another word on this site.

Everything else in a 401(k) is your own money moved from one pocket to another, and the tax break on a deferral is a deferral of tax rather than a gift. The match is the only line on your statement that adds money which was never yours. Contribute 3% into a 50%-up-to-6% formula and you collect 1.5% of salary instead of 3%.

The other 1.5% of salary is gone, and no contribution you make later can go back and claim it.

The shorthand hides where the line sits

"50% up to 6%" means your employer adds fifty cents for every dollar you put in, counting only the first 6% of your salary. Contribute 6%, get 3% of salary. Contribute 12%, still 3%. Contribute 3% and you get 1.5%, half of what was on the table.

Tiered formulas are the more common kind now, and they're harder to read at a glance. "100% on the first 3%, then 50% on the next 2%" hits its ceiling at a 5% contribution and pays 4% of salary, which is a better deal than the flat 50%-on-6% version most people picture when they hear the word match. Both tiers are modelled above. A lot of free tools still handle only one.

How do you work out an employer match by hand?

Take one pay period at a time, work each tier of the formula against that period's pay, add the tiers, and repeat until December: that is what turns a "100% on the first 3%, then 50% on the next 2%" formula into a dollar figure.

That's the whole method. The one figure that can override it is the §401(a)(17) compensation cap, which stops a plan counting salary above $360,000 however much you're actually paid.

1. Take the pay your plan is allowed to count: your salary, or $360,000 if you earn more than that. At $85,000 the whole salary counts.
2. Price the first band. Tier one runs to 3% of pay, $2,550 here, and the plan matches 100% of it.
3. Price the second band. It runs from 3% to 5% of pay, so it is two percentage points wide, $1,700, and it pays 50%.
4. Fill the bands in order with what you actually defer. A 4% election fills tier one and puts one point of the available two into tier two.
5. Add the two tier figures, then apply any flat dollar cap. A $5,000 cap comes off after the percentages, never before them.
6. Divide by your pay periods before you check a payslip. Most plans settle the match each period against that period's pay, so the 3% and the 5% are tested fortnight by fortnight and not once a year.

Run the page's own defaults through it. Tier one pays $2,550, since 3% of an $85,000 salary is $2,550 and the plan matches every cent of it. A 4% election puts one percentage point into the second band. That's $850 of deferral, matched at 50%, so tier two pays $425 and the year's match is $2,975. Take the election to 5% and the second band fills to $1,700, tier two pays $850, and the total becomes $3,400. The $425 gap is what the box above calls money left on the table.

One mistake explains most wrong answers. People read "50% on the next 2%" as half of 2% of salary, paid whatever they defer, and credit themselves the whole $850 at a 4% election. The band has to be filled before it pays out, and at 4% it is half empty.

Dollar caps and vesting are where the free tools break

Plenty of real plans cap the match at a flat figure, $5,000 a year say, instead of at a percentage of salary. A calculator that assumes a percentage cap overstates the match for anyone paid enough to reach the flat one, and the error grows with the salary. There's a dollar cap field above. Leave it at zero if your plan doesn't use one.

Vesting is the other one. Employer money isn't necessarily yours yet: IRC §411(a)(2) lets a plan hold the whole match back for up to three years and then hand it over in one piece, which is cliff vesting, or release it in slices over six years, which is graded. Your own contributions are yours from the first payroll and no schedule touches them. The calculator applies your schedule and shows what you'd keep if you left today, and that's the figure that matters when a job offer in March runs into a vesting date in July.

Filling the annual limit by September can cost you match

Most plans settle the match every pay period. Not once at year end. Reach the $24,500 §402(g) ceiling in September and your deferrals stop for the rest of the year, and the match stops with them. Two people can defer identical amounts over twelve months and end up with different sums of employer money, and the one who paced it evenly wins.

The per-paycheck calculator prices this exactly, including the match you would not be paid. Some plans fix it with a true-up. Many plans don't, and no IRS rule makes them. Ten minutes with the plan document tells you which kind you have, and if there is no true-up the fix costs you nothing at all: spread the money across the whole year instead of racing to the ceiling by the summer.

The plan document is the only authority, and you probably haven't read it

The method note above lists what the model leaves out. The larger limit isn't on that list: I can't see your plan document from here, and neither can the calculator. That summary handed out at open enrolment is often a simplification of what is actually written down, and the §411(a)(2) vesting schedule, the true-up rule and any dollar cap live in the document itself. Ask for it. It's yours to read.

This page prices one line on your statement. The match is an input to a balance and not a balance itself, so once you know your formula, the main 401(k) calculator runs it forward against your own deferrals, the fees and the years you have left.

How a 401(k) works covers the match in context.

Frequently asked questions

What does a 50% match up to 6% actually mean?

Your employer adds 50 cents for every dollar you contribute, counting only the first 6% of your salary and nothing above that. Contribute 6% and you receive 3% of salary in match. Contribute 10% and you still receive 3%. Contribute 3% and you receive 1.5%, which hands back half the match on offer.

How much should I contribute to get the full match?

Exactly the percentage your plan matches up to, and not a tenth of a percent less. If the formula is 100% on the first 3% then 50% on the next 2%, the whole match is captured at 5%. Going above that is often still sensible for the tax treatment, and the paycheck impact calculator prices a higher rate for you. There's just no further employer money above the line.

Does the employer match count toward the annual contribution limit?

Not toward your limit. The IRC §402(g) limit of $24,500 covers money you defer yourself and nothing else. Employer contributions count instead toward the combined annual additions limit under §415(c), which is $72,000 for 2026, and hardly anyone gets near it.

What happens to the match if I leave before I am vested?

You forfeit the unvested part and the plan keeps it. Your own contributions are always yours in full, whatever the §411(a)(2) schedule says about the employer share. The calculator shows what you would keep if you left today, and it is worth checking that figure before you hand in your notice.

Is the employer match taxable?

Not when it's paid in. Matching contributions are normally made pre-tax and grow tax-deferred even when your own deferrals go to a Roth 401(k), and they're taxed as ordinary income when you draw them out. SECURE 2.0 lets a plan pay the match as Roth instead, in which case it becomes taxable income to you in the year you receive it. Most plans haven't adopted it. Check your plan document instead of assuming.