Yes, you can have a 457(b) and a 401(k) at the same time, and the contribution limits are separate. For 2026, that means you can defer up to $24,500 into a 401(k) and another $24,500 into a 457(b), for $49,000 in employee contributions before any catch-ups. The IRS treats the two plans as independent buckets, not a shared pool, so a dollar in one does not reduce your room in the other.1Internal Revenue Service. How Much Salary Can You Defer if You’re Eligible for More Than One Retirement Plan?
Who Actually Has Access to Both
Private companies offer 401(k) plans. State and local governments generally cannot.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 401 – Qualified Pension, Profit-Sharing, and Stock Bonus Plans Government employers offer 457(b) deferred compensation plans instead.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 457 – Deferred Compensation Plans of State and Local Governments and Tax-Exempt Organizations Tax-exempt organizations such as hospitals and charities can sponsor either type, and sometimes both.
Two situations typically produce access to both plans. The first is working for a large public university system, a municipal hospital, or a state agency that offers a 457(b) alongside a separate 401(k) or 403(b). Teachers, firefighters, physicians at public health centers, and administrative staff at charitable foundations are common examples. The second is holding a government job with a 457(b) while also working a private-sector job that offers a 401(k). Either way, federal law lets you participate in both as long as you meet each plan’s own eligibility rules.1Internal Revenue Service. How Much Salary Can You Defer if You’re Eligible for More Than One Retirement Plan?
Why the Limits Stack
Most workplace plans share a single deferral cap. Contribute to both a 401(k) and a 403(b) and every dollar in one reduces your room in the other, because both fall under the Section 402(g) limit.4Internal Revenue Service. Consequences to a Participant Who Makes Excess Annual Salary Deferrals
The 457(b) sits under a different section of the code. Its deferrals are not aggregated with 402(g) plans. The IRS states directly that 457(b) participants have “a separate limit that includes both employee and employer contributions.”1Internal Revenue Service. How Much Salary Can You Defer if You’re Eligible for More Than One Retirement Plan? That is why you can fill one bucket without draining the other. The contributions can be traditional pre-tax or designated Roth in either plan, and the separation holds either way.
How Much You Can Contribute in 2026
The elective deferral limit for 2026 is $24,500 in a 401(k) and $24,500 in a governmental 457(b).5Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500 Layer in the catch-up rules and the picture looks like this:
- Under 50: $24,500 + $24,500 = $49,000
- Ages 50 to 59, or 64 and older: $32,500 + $32,500 = $65,000, using the $8,000 age-based catch-up in each plan
- Ages 60 through 63: $35,750 + $35,750 = $71,500, using the $11,250 super catch-up in each plan
- Age 50+ using the 457(b) three-year catch-up: up to $32,500 in the 401(k) plus up to $49,000 in the 457(b) = up to $81,500, if you have enough unused deferral room from prior years
Few people can fund those maximums. But even partial use of both plans puts you well ahead of someone limited to one.
Employer Contributions Are Treated Differently in Each Plan
This is where people trip themselves up. In a 401(k), your employer’s match or profit-sharing does not count against your $24,500 deferral limit. Employer money falls under a separate overall cap, the Section 415(c) limit, which is $72,000 for 2026.6Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs, as Adjusted
The 457(b) has no such cushion. Its annual cap covers everything, including anything the employer contributes.7Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics 457b Contribution Limits If your government employer puts $3,000 into your 457(b), you can only defer $21,500 of your own money before hitting the $24,500 ceiling. Assume it works like your 401(k) and you will overcontribute. Confirm with payroll that employer additions are being tracked against the correct cap.
Catch-Up Contributions
Both plans offer extra room for older workers, but the details are not identical.
Age 50 and Over
If you turn 50 or older during the calendar year, the standard age-based catch-up for 2026 is $8,000 per plan.5Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500 That raises each plan’s individual ceiling to $32,500.
Ages 60 Through 63
The SECURE 2.0 Act created a higher catch-up tier for participants aged 60, 61, 62, or 63. For 2026 the enhanced limit is $11,250 per plan, replacing the standard $8,000 for those specific ages.5Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500 Once you turn 64, you drop back to the regular $8,000.
The 457(b) Three-Year Catch-Up
Governmental 457(b) plans may offer a catch-up with no equivalent in the 401(k) world. During the three years before the plan’s stated normal retirement age, you can contribute up to twice the standard limit, a maximum of $49,000 for 2026, provided you have unused deferral room from prior years of eligibility.7Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics 457b Contribution Limits Someone who maxed out every prior year has no unused room and would not benefit.
Inside the 457(b), you cannot combine the age-based catch-up with the three-year catch-up in the same year. You take whichever is larger.8Internal Revenue Service. Issue Snapshot – Section 457(b) Plan of Governmental and Tax-Exempt Employers – Catch-Up Contributions But because the two plans are independent, you can use the 401(k) age-based catch-up in the same year you use the 457(b) three-year catch-up.
The 2026 Roth Catch-Up Rule for High Earners
A SECURE 2.0 provision that takes effect in 2026 changes how higher earners fund catch-up contributions. If your FICA wages (Box 3 of your W-2) exceeded $150,000 in the prior year, all of your catch-up contributions to a 401(k) or governmental 457(b) must go into a designated Roth account. You still get to make the catch-up. You just lose the pre-tax option. The $150,000 threshold will be indexed for inflation.
The rule applies to the age 50+ catch-up and the super catch-up for ages 60 through 63. The 457(b) three-year catch-up is not subject to it. If you earn above the threshold and prefer pre-tax savings, keeping each plan’s deferrals at or below the $24,500 base limit avoids the Roth requirement entirely.
Non-Governmental 457(b) Plans Are a Different Product
The rules above apply to governmental 457(b) plans, offered by state agencies, public universities, and municipalities. Non-governmental 457(b) plans, offered by tax-exempt organizations such as charities and some hospitals, look similar but behave differently in ways that matter.
Eligibility is restricted. A non-governmental 457(b) must be limited to a “select group of management or highly compensated employees,” what the Department of Labor calls a top hat group. The money is also not truly yours until you receive it: the plan must remain unfunded, and the assets legally belong to the employer and are available to its general creditors in bankruptcy.9Internal Revenue Service. Non-Governmental 457(b) Deferred Compensation Plans These plans cannot be rolled to an IRA or 401(k), and they do not offer the age 50+ catch-up (only the three-year catch-up is available). The dual-limit advantage still exists, but the tradeoffs are real.
Avoiding an Overcontribution
Because the 401(k) and 457(b) limits run on separate tracks, contributing to both does not by itself create a problem. The risk is exceeding the cap within a single plan, which happens most often when you change jobs mid-year or have two employers funding the same plan type.
For a 401(k) overcontribution, the correction deadline is April 15 of the year after the excess deferral. Withdraw the excess and any earnings on it by that date and you pay income tax on the excess in the year it was deferred, plus tax on the earnings in the year they come out. Miss the deadline and the excess gets taxed twice, once when deferred and again when distributed, and the distribution may trigger the 10% early distribution tax if you are under 59½.10Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Plan Fix-It Guide – Elective Deferrals Weren’t Limited to the Amounts Under IRC Section 402(g)
If you contribute to 401(k) plans at two different employers, neither payroll department can see the other. Tracking the combined total is on you. The same discipline applies when running a 401(k) and a 457(b) in parallel: confirm which cap each employer contribution counts against, and watch the 457(b) especially, since employer money there eats into your own room.