How Much Can You Contribute to a 457 Plan Per Year?

The 457 plan contribution limit for 2026 is $24,500, up from $23,500 in 2025.¹ Catch-up rules can raise that ceiling considerably. Participants 50 and older in governmental plans can add $8,000 for a total of $32,500. Those aged 60 through 63 get an enhanced catch-up that brings the total to $35,750. And a special three-year catch-up available in the run-up to retirement can allow contributions of up to $49,000.

The Base Limit and What Counts Toward It

For 2026, you can defer the lesser of $24,500 or 100 percent of your includible compensation into a 457(b) plan.¹ The number is indexed to inflation. It was $23,000 in 2024 and $23,500 in 2025.²

The cap applies per person, not per plan. If you participate in two 457(b) plans through separate employers, everything you defer across both plans still has to fit under $24,500.

Here is where 457(b) plans behave differently from 401(k) and 403(b) plans: employer contributions count against the same $24,500 ceiling as your own salary deferrals.² If your employer puts $5,000 into your 457(b) in 2026, you have $19,500 of room left for your own deferrals. In a 401(k) those employer dollars would sit under a separate, much higher combined limit; in a 457(b) they eat directly into your personal cap.

Age 50 and Older Catch-Up

If you turn 50 or older by December 31, 2026, a governmental 457(b) can let you contribute an extra $8,000, bringing your total to $32,500.¹ The catch-up amount rose from $7,500 in 2025.³

One boundary matters here. The age-50 catch-up is only available in governmental 457(b) plans, meaning those offered by state and local governments. If your 457(b) comes through a tax-exempt nonprofit, you do not get this catch-up at all.⁴ Your only option for going above the base limit would be the special three-year catch-up covered below.

Enhanced Catch-Up for Ages 60 Through 63

SECURE 2.0 created a higher catch-up tier for participants who turn 60, 61, 62, or 63 during the tax year. For 2026, the enhanced catch-up in governmental 457(b) plans is $11,250, which replaces the $8,000 age-50 catch-up for this age group.³ Total ceiling: $35,750.

Once you turn 64, you drop back to the regular $8,000 age-50 catch-up. The window is narrow. If you are in the eligible age range and have budget room, the extra $3,250 over the standard catch-up is worth capturing.

The Special Three-Year Catch-Up

The 457(b) plan offers a catch-up no other retirement plan has. In the three years before you reach the “normal retirement age” defined in your plan, you can contribute up to the lesser of:

Twice the standard annual limit, which is $49,000 for 2026, or
The standard $24,500 limit plus the total of any amounts you were eligible to defer in prior years but did not.⁴

The unused-amount math works like this: for every past year you were eligible for the plan and deferred less than the maximum, the shortfall carries forward. Deferred $15,000 in a year the limit was $20,500? You have $5,500 of unused capacity from that year. Add up all those shortfalls, combine them with the current $24,500 base, and that is your second prong. You get the lower of the two numbers.

“Normal retirement age” matters because it sets when your three-year window opens. Plans can define it as the earlier of age 65 or the age at which you can retire and receive unreduced benefits under the employer’s pension plan, but not later than age 70½.⁴ Some plans let you designate a retirement age within those boundaries. Check the plan document.

You cannot combine the special three-year catch-up with the age-50 or age 60-63 catch-up in the same year.⁴ If you qualify for both, your plan should apply whichever produces the higher contribution. The special catch-up usually wins if you have real unused capacity from earlier years.

Governmental vs. Tax-Exempt Plans

Two things about your plan type change how much you can save.

First, the age-50 and age 60-63 catch-ups are available only in governmental 457(b) plans. Tax-exempt plans offered by nonprofits are limited to the special three-year catch-up.⁵ That difference alone can be $8,000 or more per year of contribution room.

Second, Roth contributions are available only in governmental plans.⁵ This matters for the mandatory Roth catch-up rule discussed below.

Stacking a 457(b) With a 401(k) or 403(b)

The 457(b) limit is independent of the deferral limit that covers 401(k), 403(b), and SIMPLE plans.⁶ You do not have to aggregate contributions across the two categories.

In practice, a state university employee with both a 403(b) and a governmental 457(b) could defer $24,500 to each in 2026, sheltering $49,000 from current income tax. Add the age-50 catch-up in both plans and the combined ceiling is $65,000. For participants aged 60 through 63 with the enhanced catch-up in both plans, the total reaches $71,500.³

The 401(k)/403(b)/SIMPLE limit is shared across those plan types. Contribute $24,500 to a 403(b) and you have used up any 401(k) room too. The 457(b) limit stands alone regardless.⁶

Mandatory Roth Catch-Up for Higher Earners

SECURE 2.0 added a rule for high-income participants making catch-up contributions. If your FICA wages from the prior year exceeded $145,000 (subject to cost-of-living adjustments), any catch-up contributions to an eligible governmental 457(b) must be designated as Roth, meaning they go in after-tax rather than pre-tax.⁷

Final regulations issued in 2025 generally apply the requirement to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026, with a later applicability date for certain governmental and collectively bargained plans.⁸ Plans may implement earlier under a reasonable good-faith interpretation of the statute. The rule does not change how much you can contribute. It changes whether the catch-up portion is pre-tax or after-tax. Confirm with your plan administrator if you expect to be affected.

What Happens If You Go Over

Excess contributions happen most often when someone changes jobs mid-year or contributes to two 457(b) plans without coordinating. Correction rules depend on the plan type.⁹

Governmental plans must distribute the excess plus earnings as soon as administratively practicable after discovery. If the plan fails to correct, it can lose its status as an eligible 457(b), changing the tax treatment for every participant.⁹

Tax-exempt plans have a fixed deadline. Excess deferrals and allocable earnings must be distributed by April 15 of the year following the year the excess occurred. Miss it and the plan becomes an ineligible plan under Section 457(f), which triggers immediate taxation of all vested benefits under less favorable rules.⁹

When the excess comes from contributing too much across multiple plans rather than from a single plan’s error, the plan itself stays eligible even if the overage is not distributed. You still owe income tax on the excess in the year you deferred it, plus tax on the earnings when they are eventually distributed. Watching your year-to-date totals prevents the double hit, especially if you switched employers or have two 457(b) accounts open at once.

2026 Limits at a Glance

1
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs, as Adjusted for Changes in Cost-of-Living
2
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics 457b Contribution Limits
3
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
4
Internal Revenue Service. Issue Snapshot – Section 457(b) Plan of Governmental and Tax-Exempt Employers – Catch-Up Contributions
5
Internal Revenue Service. Comparison of Tax-Exempt 457(b) Plans and Governmental 457(b) Plans
6
Internal Revenue Service. How Much Salary Can You Defer if Youre Eligible for More Than One Retirement Plan
7
Federal Register. Catch-Up Contributions
8
Internal Revenue Service. Treasury, IRS Issue Final Regulations on New Roth Catch-Up Rule, Other SECURE 2.0 Act Provisions
9
Internal Revenue Service. Issue Snapshot – 457(b) Plans – Correction of Excess Deferrals