403(b) and 457(b) Contribution Calculator

Two plans, two separate limits

The elective deferral limit under Section 402(g) is shared across 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE, and SARSEP plans. A governmental 457(b) sits outside that group with a limit of its own. If your employer offers both a 403(b) and a governmental 457(b), you can fund each one up to the full amount in the same year.

Two asymmetries trip people up. First, employer contributions count against your $24,500 457(b) limit, because that limit covers employee and employer money together. Employer contributions to a 403(b) do not reduce your elective deferral room at all. Second, the Section 415(c) annual additions ceiling of $72,000 applies to the 403(b) side only, covering your deferrals plus anything your employer puts in. It never applies to a governmental 457(b).

Every catch-up on this page is plan-permitting. Your employer has to have adopted the feature before you can use it, so check with your plan administrator before you set a deferral you cannot actually make.

What maxing out actually costs per paycheck

The annual limit only becomes real when you divide it by your pay schedule. Teacher and school-district payrolls rarely run the standard 26 checks, so the per-check number can look very different from the one on a generic calculator.

Your take-home does not fall by the full deferral. A $942 pre-tax contribution for someone in the 22% federal bracket with a 5% state rate cuts take-home by roughly $688, because the income tax drops as the deferral goes in. It also does not fall by only the marginal rate, because Social Security and Medicare are still figured on your full gross pay. That is the part most calculators skip, and it is why the real number sits between the two.

On a 10-month schedule the arithmetic gets tighter: fewer checks means each one carries more of the annual target. Some districts offer an extended-pay option that spreads the same salary over 26 checks, which makes a large deferral easier to absorb. For a fuller picture of what lands on payday, try the reverse paycheck calculator or the marginal vs. effective tax rate calculator.

Catch-up contributions after 50, and the 2026 Roth rule

There are three age tiers, and each one applies per plan. At 50 through 59 you can add $8,000 to each plan. At 60 through 63 the amount rises to $11,250 under SECURE 2.0. At 64 and older it drops back to $8,000. What matters is your age on December 31, 2026, so someone with a December birthday gets the full year of eligibility.

Starting in 2026, an employee whose prior-year Social Security wages with the same employer topped $150,000 has to make age-based catch-up contributions on a Roth basis. The test uses W-2 Box 3 wages, which is where the exemption that matters here comes in: an employee with no Box 3 Social Security wages from that employer, common in Medicare-only public school and public safety positions, is outside the rule entirely. The catch-up contribution calculator goes deeper on the tiers.

Two special catch-ups sit on top of this. The 403(b) 15-year service catch-up is the least of $3,000, $15,000 minus what you have already used, or $5,000 times your years of service minus your prior deferrals with that employer. It is capped at $15,000 over a lifetime with the same employer and is applied before the age-50 catch-up. The 457(b) three-year pre-retirement catch-up can lift your 457(b) to twice the annual limit, but only up to the deferral room you left unused in earlier years, and it cannot be combined with the age-50 catch-up in the same year. Both figures come from your plan administrator's records, not from a calculator.

Which one to fund first

Take any employer match first, wherever it lives. Passing one up to fund the other plan costs you money outright. After that, if there is any chance you leave the job before age 59 and a half, the governmental 457(b) usually earns the next dollar: withdrawals after you separate from service are not subject to the 10% early-withdrawal penalty, which is not true of a 403(b).

Then compare the menus. K-12 403(b) programs have a long history of high-cost annuity products sold through payroll vendors, while 457(b) menus at the same employer are often cheaper and simpler. Fees compound the same way returns do, so a one percentage point difference matters more than most contribution decisions.

At a private non-profit the ordering flips. A non-governmental 457(b) is an unfunded promise: the assets remain subject to your employer's creditors, and there is no age-50 catch-up. In that setting the 403(b) is normally the safer home for your money.

If your stub does not match the numbers above, there is usually one more line to account for: most public educators also pay a mandatory state pension contribution that comes out of every check before any of this. To see your own paycheck with retirement deferrals and taxes together, get the Pay44 app or start with the 401(k) Contribution Calculator if you also have a plan from private-sector work.

Estimates only. Not tax or legal advice. Plan rules vary, so confirm your limits, catch-up eligibility, and pay schedule with your plan administrator or payroll office.