403(b) Calculator
A 403(b) projection that models the 15-years-of-service catch-up under §402(g)(7) — the one rule that makes a 403(b) different from a 401(k).
How this is calculated
The 15-year catch-up is the least of three amounts under IRC §402(g)(7): $3,000 for the year; $15,000 over a lifetime, less whatever you've already claimed; and $5,000 multiplied by your years of service, less every elective deferral you've made in prior years. The calculator names which of the three is binding, because that's what decides what would change it.
Prior deferrals, for the third test, means every elective deferral you've made to this organisation's plans across your whole career. The page can't know that figure. If you leave the box blank it estimates years of service × current salary × current rate, and labels the result "estimated". That estimate runs too high for anyone who contributed less early in their career, which understates the catch-up, so enter the real figure if you have it. The $5,000-a-year test is the one most often binding for a long-serving contributor.
Ordering. The service catch-up is applied to the annual limit before the age-50 catch-up, as the IRS sets out. Your total for the year doesn't move. It changes which allowance each dollar is charged against, and therefore how fast you use up the $15,000 lifetime cap, which the mandated order spends first.
The projection applies §401(a)(17) to pay counted and the age-appropriate §402(g)/§414(v) cap every year, and takes the fee off the return before compounding.
Not modelled: a separate 457(b), which has its own limit; annuity surrender charges and mortality-and-expense fees as separate items; employer non-elective contributions on a schedule of their own; any state pension you also pay into; state tax.
Most 403(b) calculators are 401(k) calculators with a new label
The two plans really are close. Same §402(g) deferral limit, same §415(c) ceiling, same age-50 and 60–63 catch-ups, same tax treatment, same Roth option where the plan offers it.
One rule is different, and it's worth real money to the people it applies to: the 15-years-of-service catch-up in §402(g)(7). If a tool doesn't ask how long you've worked for your employer, it isn't modelling that rule, and for a teacher or nurse two decades into a career that's the most important box on the page.
So use the shared arithmetic where it really is shared. The 401(k) calculator on the homepage projects a 403(b) balance without a single adjustment, and the tool above exists for the one rule that calculator can't see.
How much you need in a 403(b) to retire is the same question with a different label on the account, so it isn't answered here: the age-by-age balance benchmarks apply to a 403(b) unchanged, and so does the income the balance has to produce.
The catch-up is the least of three amounts, and the third one usually wins
Least, not greatest, so it usually disappoints.
- $3,000 for the year.
- $15,000 across your lifetime, reduced by everything you have already claimed under this rule.
- $5,000 × your years of service, less every elective deferral you have made in prior years.
The third test is the one that most often reduces it to nothing. Someone who has contributed steadily for twenty years has usually deferred more than $100,000 already, and that wipes out the $5,000-per-year credit in full. The rule helps people who contributed little early and are trying to catch up late, which is, to be fair, exactly who it was written for.
Try it with the defaults above. At the default rate and 18 years of service the $3,000 annual test is the one that binds. Nudge the contribution box up a single point and the catch-up vanishes altogether, because the estimated lifetime deferrals overtake $5,000 × 18. That's how narrow the band is.
Two more conditions, and the IRS is strict on both. The employer must be a school, a hospital, a health or welfare service agency, or a church or church-related organisation. And the 15 years must be with that employer, not 15 years in the profession, so a teacher with 15 years spread across three districts doesn't qualify. As far as I can tell the second condition catches more people than the arithmetic does.
The ordering rule spends your lifetime cap first
When both catch-ups are available, the service catch-up goes against the annual limit first and the age-50 catch-up second, on whatever is left. The IRS sets the order. It isn't optional.
It doesn't change how much you may contribute this year. What it changes is which allowance each dollar is charged against, and so how quickly you use up the $15,000 lifetime service cap. The mandated order spends that cap first, which is the less favourable direction for you and one reason to know how much of it you've got left—that's what the "already used" box is for.
Fees deserve more attention here than in a 401(k)
The 403(b) market grew out of annuity contracts sold one at a time to teachers and hospital staff, often through payroll arrangements with several vendors and no single fiduciary reviewing the menu. Charges of 1.5% to 2% a year are still found, alongside surrender penalties for moving.
Over a career, 2% isn't marginal. Put your real all-in figure into the fee box (fund expenses plus administration plus any annuity charge) and compare. Our fee calculator shows what a given percentage costs over a working life, and the answer is usually far larger than the annual number suggests.
If your plan offers several vendors, they won't all charge the same. Comparing them is probably the most valuable hour anyone in a 403(b) can spend, and I'd say that with more confidence than anything else on this page.
A 457(b) alongside it doubles your room
If your employer also offers a governmental 457(b), it has its own separate contribution limit. Not shared, not coordinated. A second allowance on top of the first.
The 457(b) has its own tool, including the catch-up that lets you reclaim allowance you never used and the rule that removes the 10% penalty once you have left. Public school districts often offer both, as do universities and hospital systems, and a large number of employees contribute to only one because nobody told them about the other. Two 403(b)s share a limit. A 403(b) and a 457(b) don't.
ERISA covers some 403(b)s, and yours may not be one of them
Some 403(b) plans are covered by ERISA and some aren't. Governmental and most church plans fall outside it, and a non-ERISA arrangement comes with weaker creditor protection and thinner mandatory disclosure than a typical 401(k) participant gets.
That's no reason to avoid the plan. It's a reason to ask which kind yours is, and to read the fee disclosure yourself instead of assuming the ERISA protections carry over. The limits page covers every ceiling that applies to both plan types, including the 60–63 window.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 403(b) contribution limit?
The same §402(g) limit as a 401(k): $24,500 for 2026, rising to $32,500 from age 50 and $35,750 during the 60–63 window. On top of that, and only in a 403(b), long-serving employees of qualifying employers can add the 15-years-of-service catch-up.
What is the 403(b) 15-year rule?
An extra deferral allowance for employees with at least 15 years of service with an eligible employer: a school, a hospital, a health or welfare agency, or a church or church-related organisation. It's the least of three amounts. $3,000 for the year, $15,000 over a lifetime, or $5,000 times your years of service less every elective deferral you've already made.
Can I use the 15-year catch-up and the age 50 catch-up together?
Yes, and the IRS fixes the order: the 15-year service catch-up goes against the annual limit first, then the age-50 catch-up on top of what's left. Your total for the year doesn't change. What changes is which allowance each dollar is charged against, and so how quickly you use up the $15,000 lifetime service cap, which the mandated order spends first.
Is a 403(b) better or worse than a 401(k)?
The tax treatment and the main limits are identical. The differences are practical. 403(b) menus are often narrower and historically leaned on annuity products with higher charges, so fees deserve a closer look; not every 403(b) is covered by ERISA, which affects creditor protection and disclosure; and only a 403(b) offers the 15-year catch-up.
Can I contribute to a 403(b) and a 457(b) in the same year?
Yes, and almost nobody does. A governmental 457(b) has its own limit that doesn't share with the 403(b) one, so an employer offering both has effectively doubled the amount you can defer. A 401(k) and a 403(b) do share a limit, because both are §402(g) plans.
Do 403(b) plans have employer matching?
Many do, though it's less universal than in the 401(k) world, and public-sector employers often contribute through a separate pension instead. Where a match exists it works the same way and counts toward the §415(c) ceiling of $72,000, not toward your own deferral limit.