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401(k) Contribution Limits 2027: Projected $25,500 + the 60-63 Super Catch-Up

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The standard limit and the age-50 catch-upThe 60-63 super catch-up: the one most people missThe mandatory Roth catch-up for higher earnersSources

Updated August 24, 2026. Quick answer. The 2027 401(k) elective-deferral limit is not officially announced yet — the IRS typically publishes it in late October or November. Actuarial firm Milliman’s forecast, updated August 13, 2026 on that week’s inflation release, is $25,500 (up $1,000 from 2026’s $24,500), with an additional $11,750 “super catch-up” for savers turning 60–63 during the year — a provision unique to that four-year age band.

The standard limit and the age-50 catch-up

The elective-deferral limit applies to your own contributions to a 401(k), 403(b), or most 457(b) plans. Workers age 50 and older by year-end can add a standard catch-up on top — both figures move on the IRS’s annual inflation-adjustment cycle.

Every 401(k) elective-deferral limit the IRS announced from 2009 through 2026, with 2027 drawn as an empty row18 horizontal bars, one per year: 2009 $16,500; 2010 $16,500; 2011 $16,500; 2012 $17,000; 2013 $17,500; 2014 $17,500; 2015 $18,000; 2016 $18,000; 2017 $18,000; 2018 $18,500; 2019 $19,000; 2020 $19,500; 2021 $19,500; 2022 $20,500; 2023 $22,500; 2024 $23,000; 2025 $23,500; 2026 $24,500. The limit rose in 11 of the 17 year-to-year steps and was left unchanged in 6. The 2027 row is an open dashed outline with a question mark: no projection is plotted in it, because the index quarter that sets the 2027 limit does not close until September 30, 2026.18 announced limits, and one empty row401(k) elective-deferral limit, by the year itappliedeach figure parsed from the IRS document thatannounced it2009$16,5002010$16,500unchanged2011$16,500unchanged2012$17,000+$5002013$17,500+$5002014$17,500unchanged2015$18,000+$5002016$18,000unchanged2017$18,000unchanged2018$18,500+$5002019$19,000+$5002020$19,500+$5002021$19,500unchanged2022$20,500+$1,0002023$22,500+$2,0002024$23,000+$5002025$23,500+$5002026$24,500+$1,0002027?not announced — the index quarter thislimit is set from does not close untilSeptember 30, 2026$0$5k$10k$15k$20kClear Money Guide · 18 IRS documents: the cost-of-livingnotices for 2010–2026 and the Internal Revenue Bulletinscarrying the years whose advance notice is no longer posted,each figure parsed from that document’s own sentence · CC BY4.0
What “moves on the IRS’s annual inflation-adjustment cycle” actually looks like. Each bar is the elective-deferral limit for that year, taken from the IRS document that announced it rather than from a summary. Over 2009–2026 the limit went from $16,500 to $24,500, but it did not climb every year: it rose in 11 of the 17 steps and was unchanged in 6 (2010, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021). The age-50 catch-up runs on the same clock and moved far less — $5,500 in 2010 to $8,000 in 2026, rising in only 4 of 16 steps (2015, 2020, 2023, 2026). The reason is the rounding rule, not a different cycle: both are adjusted under 26 U.S.C. § 415(d) and both are rounded down to a multiple of $500 — § 402(g)(4) for the limit and § 414(v)(2)(C) for the catch-up — so one step is 2.0% of the 2026 limit but 6.2% of the 2026 catch-up, and the smaller figure sits still for years at a time. Nothing is plotted for 2027: § 415(d)(2)(A) sets it from the index for the calendar quarter ending September 30, 2026, which had not closed when this page was updated. One honest limit on the sources: the IRS no longer posts the advance notices for 2011–2015, so those years are read from the Internal Revenue Bulletin that published them instead. CC BY 4.0.

The 60 to 63 catch-up window is four years wide, and then it closes.

Milliman’s forecast puts the 2027 elective-deferral limit at $25,500, with an additional $11,750 available only to savers turning 60 to 63 during the year. Whether to use that room, and whether it should land pre-tax or Roth, is a question about your own bracket in those four years rather than about the limit itself.

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The 60-63 super catch-up: the one most people miss

Since 2025, a SECURE 2.0 provision gives workers who turn 60, 61, 62, or 63 during the plan year a larger catch-up contribution than the standard age-50 catch-up — projected at $11,750 for 2027. This applies only during that specific four-year window; the year you turn 64, you drop back to the standard age-50 catch-up amount — and the amount itself is set from a frozen 2024 base year rather than from the current catch-up, which is why it moves on its own schedule. It's easy to miss because most retirement-savings coverage still describes a single "50+" catch-up figure.

The four age bands section 414(v) creates, drawn with the announced 2026 figuresFour horizontal bars. Under 50: $24,500 of elective deferrals. Ages 50 through 59: $24,500 plus a $8,000 catch-up, $32,500. Ages 60, 61, 62 or 63: $24,500 plus the larger $11,250 catch-up, $35,750. Age 64 and over: back to $32,500. All four are announced 2026 figures; no 2027 figure is drawn.What the announced 2026 rules let youdefer, by ageone bar per band section 414(v) actuallycreatesannounced figures only - the 2027 versions arenot outUnder 50$24,500$24,500 elective deferrals only ·§ 402(g)(1)50 through 59$32,500$24,500 + $8,000 catch-up ·§ 414(v)(2)(B)(i)60, 61, 62 or 63$35,750$24,500 + $11,250 catch-up ·§ 414(v)(2)(E)(i)64 and over$32,500$24,500 + $8,000 catch-up again — the band hasclosed · § 414(v)(2)(B)(i)$0$10k$20k$30k$40kClear Money Guide · IRS Notice 2025-67 and the IRScost-of-living table for the 2026 amounts; 26 U.S.C.§ 414(v) for the bands · CC BY 4.0
The band is four years wide, and then it closes. Every bar here is an announced 2026 figure, so the shape is real rather than projected. The larger catch-up is not a new allowance on top of the ordinary one — it replaces it: § 414(v)(2)(B)(i) sets the amount for “an eligible participant who would attain age 60 but would not attain age 64 before the close of the taxable year,” which is why the bar drops back at 64 rather than continuing to grow. The $11,250 is not a separate indexed figure either: § 414(v)(2)(E)(i) defines it as the greater of $10,000 or 150 percent of the 2024 catch-up, and 150 percent of $7,500 is exactly $11,250. Two riders the bars cannot show: the catch-up is capped at your compensation for the year, and under § 414(v)(7) a saver whose 2025 wages from that employer exceeded the announced threshold must make the catch-up part as Roth — a threshold the IRS raised to $150,000 for 2026 catch-ups, above the $145,000 written into the statute. The 2027 versions of all four bars are not announced. CC BY 4.0.

The mandatory Roth catch-up for higher earners

Also since 2025: if your prior-year FICA wages from your employer exceeded $145,000 (indexed annually), your catch-up contributions must go into a Roth account, not pre-tax, regardless of which you'd normally choose — a swap that costs you the deduction at your top bracket rate this year, and the requirement is already in force rather than starting in 2027. This applies at the employer/wage level, not household income — it's a payroll-driven rule, and plans that don't yet support Roth catch-up contributions may simply block catch-up contributions entirely for affected employees until they add it.

Sources

2026 confirmed limits: IRS. 2027 projection: Milliman, 2027 IRS limits forecast, updated August 13, 2026 and read at milliman.com on August 24, 2026 — the firm's own forecast, not an official IRS figure. Milliman reissues it monthly and has revised it once: the March 13, 2026 forecast projected $25,000, and every forecast since (April, May, June, July) projects $25,500. That August 13 update is built on ten months of actual CPI through July 31, 2026 with two months forecast to September 30. SECURE 2.0 catch-up provisions: Pub. L. 117-328.

Every projected figure above is attributed to the organization that published it and is explicitly not yet announced by the government body that sets it. This page will be updated with the official figure the day it is announced, and the projection will be struck through rather than deleted, so the record of what was projected vs. what actually happened stays visible. See the full current-numbers register for every figure this site tracks, dated and sourced. General information, not tax or legal advice.

The 2027 deferral and catch-up limits wait on the IRS cost-of-living notice. What can already be computed for your 2027 sets out which retirement figures are settled today and which are still being measured.

A limit is what you may add; it is not what people have. The retirement savings percentile calculator puts a balance against the actual distribution for its age cohort — where the median family aged 55–64 holds $16,600, not the six-figure average the headlines quote.

Fifteen more 2027 figures, each with the 2026 amount, the statute, and an honest read of whether anyone has projected 2027 yet: Gift Tax Annual Exclusion 2027, IRA Contribution Limit 2027, SIMPLE IRA Contribution Limit 2027, SEP IRA Contribution Limit 2027, Social Security Wage Base 2027, Social Security Earnings Test Limits 2027, QCD Limit 2027, FSA Contribution Limit 2027, Long-Term Capital Gains Brackets 2027, AMT Exemption 2027, Saver's Credit 2027, Medicare Part A Deductible 2027, Kiddie Tax Thresholds 2027, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion 2027 and ABLE Account Contribution Limit 2027.

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