2027 401(k), IRA and HSA Contribution Limits (and What Maxing Out Does to Your Retirement Date)

401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) limits

For 2026 the employee elective deferral is $24,500. That dollar limit applies to a 401(k), a 403(b), a governmental 457(b), and the Thrift Savings Plan. Deferrals to a 401(k), a 403(b), and the Thrift Savings Plan are added together. A governmental 457(b) limit is separate, so someone in both a 401(k) and a 457(b) can defer the limit to each. The worked examples below assume one 401(k).

The age-50 catch-up for 2026 is $8,000. Participants who turn 60, 61, 62, or 63 during the year use $11,250 instead of that $8,000, not on top of it. IR-2025-111 says the higher amount remains in place of the age-50 catch-up. A 457(b) can also offer a special catch-up in the last three years before the plan's normal retirement age. That special catch-up is not the ages 60–63 figure in the table.

For 2027, Notice 2026-66 sets the employee deferral at $25,500, the age-50 catch-up at $8,500, and the ages 60–63 catch-up at $11,750 instead of the age-50 amount. The section 415(c) annual-additions limit is $75,000. Those 2027 amounts are official. The 2026 annual-additions limit is $72,000.

Employer matching and other employer contributions do not use the employee deferral limit. They count toward the annual-additions limit. Catch-up contributions are generally allowed on top of both. Traditional and Roth employee deferrals share the deferral limit. The 401(k) match calculator applies a plan's match formula using the official 2026 cap.

If prior-year FICA wages from the employer exceed the Roth catch-up threshold, catch-up contributions have to be designated Roth. For 2026 that threshold is $150,000 of 2025 wages. The 2027 figure is $155,000 of 2026 wages, labeled Official.

IRA limits

The 2026 IRA contribution limit is $7,500. Notice 2025-67 also raises the age-50 catch-up, under section 219(b)(5)(B), from $1,000 to $1,100. Traditional and Roth IRA contributions share that limit. Income tests can still block a deduction or a direct Roth contribution.

For 2027, the IRA contribution is $7,500 (official) and the age-50 catch-up is $1,100 (official). Traditional and Roth IRA contributions share the base limit. The Roth IRA versus traditional IRA article compares the two IRA types.

HSA limits for 2027

The 2027 HSA amounts are official. Rev. Proc. 2026-24 sets the contribution limit at $4,500 for self-only coverage and $9,000 for family coverage. A qualifying high-deductible health plan must have a deductible of at least $1,750 self-only or $3,500 family, and its out-of-pocket maximum cannot exceed $8,700 self-only or $17,400 family.

The 2026 amounts, from Rev. Proc. 2025-19, are $4,400 and $8,750, with minimum deductibles of $1,700 and $3,400 and out-of-pocket maximums of $8,500 and $17,000.

The age-55 catch-up stays $1,000. It is set by statute, section 223(b)(3), so the revenue procedure does not inflate it. Each spouse who is 55 or older and eligible contributes that catch-up to their own HSA. One spouse cannot deposit both catch-ups into a single account. The family contribution limit is shared. The catch-ups are not.

What maxing out changes

Both examples use the year-by-year model behind the when-can-I-retire calculator. It compounds one steady return, grosses each withdrawal up for a flat tax share, and will not spend retirement-account balances before age 60. It does not run many market paths. Salary is $120,000. Savings that can be spent before 60 are $20,000, and nothing more is added to that bucket.

The current employee deferral is $8,000 a year, about 6.7% of pay. Both cases also include $4,800 of employer match, a dollar-for-dollar match on the first 4% of pay, so the match is not what moves the date. The higher case raises only the employee deferral to the official 2027 employee deferral of $25,500. Contributions stay flat in today's dollars and do not add the age-50 or ages 60–63 catch-up.

Nominal return is 6% and inflation is 2.5%. Retirement spending is $72,000 a year, plus $8,000 of health insurance before Medicare. Social Security is $28,000 a year at full retirement age, claimed at 67. The tax share of each withdrawal is 15%. The plan ends at 95. There is no pension and no IRA contribution.

At 35, with $90,000 already in retirement accounts, the earliest age in this model moves from 67 to 60, 7 years earlier. Age 60 is the earliest retirement age in this model, because it does not withdraw retirement-account balances before then. With the higher deferral the plan lasts from 60. With the current deferral, starting then runs out of money, so the model waits until the later age.

At 42, with $240,000 already in retirement accounts, the earliest age in this model moves from 66 to 62, 4 years earlier.

These dates are estimates under those assumptions. A lower return, higher spending, or a match lost by front-loading would change them. The retirement amount guide treats the spending question at more length, and the compound interest calculator isolates how an extra annual deposit grows.

Roth or traditional for the dollars above the match

The match comes first. It is compensation the formula already offers, and choosing Roth or traditional does not replace it. If the plan matches each paycheck and does not true up at year end, reaching the deferral cap early can leave later paychecks unmatched. Front-loading a 401(k) walks through that timing. The 401(k) match calculator applies the tiers.

Dollars above the match are a tax-timing choice. A traditional deferral reduces taxable pay this year and is taxed when it comes out. A Roth deferral costs more take-home pay now and can be tax-free later if the distribution is qualified. The Roth versus traditional 401(k) calculator compares those treatments at the same take-home cost. That calculator still uses the 2026 employee cap. The same choice for IRA dollars is in the Roth IRA versus traditional IRA article.