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401(k) Contribution Calculator

See what each paycheck puts into your 401(k).

How it is calculated

The tool works with percentages of your annual salary and splits the result across your pay periods. Your share per paycheck is salary × contribution% ÷ 100 ÷ pay periods. The employer amount uses the same formula with the employer percentage in place of yours, and the annual total is salary × (contribution% + employer%) ÷ 100.

Salary is a yearly figure in dollars, the percentages are entered as plain numbers (6 means 6%), and pay periods is the number of paychecks per year (12, 24, 26, 52). The employer percentage is treated as a flat share of your salary, so it does not model tiered or capped match rules, and the tool applies no annual IRS contribution limit. Amounts are rounded to cents for display.

Worked example

Take a salary of $72,000, a 6% contribution, a 3% employer contribution and 26 biweekly paychecks. Your yearly contribution is 72,000 × 6 ÷ 100 = $4,320, which divided by 26 gives $166.15 per paycheck. The employer adds 72,000 × 3 ÷ 100 = $2,160 a year, or $83.08 per paycheck. Together that is 72,000 × (6 + 3) ÷ 100 = $6,480.00 going into the account over the year.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Entering the employer's match formula (for example "50% of the first 6%") as the match percentage. The field wants the final employer contribution as a percent of salary, so 50% of 6% is entered as 3.
  • Typing 0.06 instead of 6 for the contribution. The field takes percent points, so 0.06 means six hundredths of one percent.
  • Using the number of months or weeks worked rather than paychecks per year: biweekly pay is 26 periods, semi-monthly is 24.
  • Entering take-home pay instead of gross salary. Contributions are normally a percentage of gross pay before tax.
  • Assuming the result is capped at the legal annual limit. The tool does not check it, so a very high percentage can show a total above what a plan would allow.

Sources

About this calculator

This calculator breaks a 401(k) contribution down to the paycheck level: entering your annual salary, the number of pay periods per year, your contribution as a percentage of salary, and your employer's contribution as a percentage of salary shows exactly how much comes out of each paycheck and how much your employer adds on top, plus the combined annual total. It's the practical companion to a long-term growth projection — the number that actually shows up on your pay stub.

Employees use this to check they're contributing enough to capture the full employer match — often described as leaving free money on the table if you don't — and to see the real take-home-pay impact of raising or lowering their contribution rate before making the change through payroll. Because match formulas vary (a straight percentage, a tiered match, or a cap in dollars), work out what your plan actually pays as a share of your salary and enter that figure; the calculator applies it as a flat percentage and does not check IRS annual contribution limits, so confirm those separately.

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