Abbott Laboratories 401(k) employer contribution: 5% of pay
Abbott Laboratories Stock Retirement Plan · ABT · CIK 1800
Employer contribution, as a share of pay
5%
Abbott Laboratories contributes 5% of pay to the 401(k) of every employee who contributes at least 2% themselves.
From the Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026 ↗, covering the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Page data last updated July 28, 2026, when the Form 5500 bulk data was last refreshed. Why filings lag
On this page: what the employer actually paid in · the formula, word for word · when the money becomes yours · who can join · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What Abbott Laboratories puts in, and what the plan costs
What Abbott Laboratories put into the plan, per active participant
$6,446
Abbott Laboratories put $6,446 into this plan for each of its 38,001 active participants in plan year 2024. This is the whole employer side of the plan: matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions, and reallocated forfeitures. The Form 5500 does not separate them, so this is what the employer put in and not the match.
Abbott Laboratories put in less per active participant than 68% of plans with 5,000+ participants in pharmaceuticals and chemicals. The middle plan in that group of 63 reported $8,101. Pharmaceuticals and chemicals comes from business code 325410, which Abbott Laboratories entered on its own Form 5500. Sponsors pick that code themselves, so a code that does not describe what the employer does ranks the plan against the wrong companies.
What this figure cannot separate: how much Abbott Laboratories pays, and how much it puts in
This is dollars, not a rate. A Form 5500 carries no payroll, so the figure reflects both how much the employer puts in and how much the employer pays: two plans running the same formula report different amounts when one pays better. Crossing the peer group with industry holds most of that difference still, and none of it disappears.
This is one plan year, not an average. A true-up, a plan merger or a one-off contribution moves a single year on its own.
Source: DOL Form 5500 for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, EIN 360698440, plan 334 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $6,446 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Abbott Laboratories also files a Form 11-K, which states what the employer contributes for plan year 2025: the card below reads $2,475 a year at a $49,500 salary, and the same filing states employer contributions made outside the match. That second figure is what the formula pays one worker on that salary, and not an amount either filing reports. The two figures cover different plan years and measure different things, so neither one is the other one corrected.
What Abbott Laboratories puts in
$2,475
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
Once the worker contributes 2% of pay, the employer adds 5% of pay, whatever the worker puts in above that.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Employer matching contributions to the Plan are made each payroll period based on the participating employee’s eligible earnings, unless the employee has elected to participate as a Freedom 2 Save Participant as described below. The employer matching contribution for the year ended December 31, 2025 was 5% of the participant’s eligible earnings if the participant elected to contribute at least 2% of eligible earnings to the Plan.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 2% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $990 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
71.43 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 32% of the 253 schedules we have scored.
It measures vesting speed and nothing else. It says nothing about the size of the match, what the plan charges, or the funds inside it.
Share of the employer's money that is the worker's at hire and at each of the first 6 anniversaries: 0%, 0%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are at all times fully vested in their own contributions and earnings thereon. Vesting in employer contributions and earnings thereon is based on the following vesting schedule:”
The wait before the match starts and the year-end true-up appear above when the filing states them. Neither is part of the score, and a filing that is silent on one of them is not a plan without it.
What the plan costs, against plans of its size
Not reported
The Form 5500 filing does not report the plan-paid administrative expenses this figure needs.
What is Abbott Laboratories' 401(k) match formula?
Abbott Laboratories' 401(k) employer money is a fixed contribution rather than a match: 5% of pay, paid to everyone who contributes at least 2% themselves. The contribution is deposited each payroll. A threshold contribution is all or nothing at one contribution rate, which is not the same as a match on every dollar.
| Contribution formula | 5% of pay if you contribute at least 2% |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer contribution | 5% of compensation |
| Deposited | Each payroll |
| Other employer contribution | Freedom 2 Save: a participant who makes qualified student loan repayments of at least 2% of eligible earnings may receive a Freedom 2 Save employer contribution of 5% of eligible earnings shortly after year end |
| Other employer contribution | Annual employer contribution of 3% of eligible earnings, effective June 1, 2024, for participants not actively participating in the Abbott Laboratories Annuity Retirement Plan, regardless of whether the participant contributes to the Plan |
At a $45,000 salary, contributing at least 2% ($900) earns an employer contribution of 5% of pay, or $2,250.
What the filing says, word for word
“Employer matching contributions to the Plan are made each payroll period based on the participating employee’s eligible earnings, unless the employee has elected to participate as a Freedom 2 Save Participant as described below. The employer matching contribution for the year ended December 31, 2025 was 5% of the participant’s eligible earnings if the participant elected to contribute at least 2% of eligible earnings to the Plan.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What is Abbott Laboratories' 401(k) vesting schedule?
Abbott Laboratories vests the employer match on a cliff schedule: nothing is yours until two years of service, then 100% at once. Leave a day early and the employer money goes back to the plan, the edge a two-year cliff creates.
| Employer match vesting | Cliff: 100% vested after 2 years of service |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Accelerated vesting | 100% vested upon death or attainment of age 65 while employed by Abbott; Abbott Green participants who first became participants prior to January 1, 2018 are also fully vested upon qualifying disability |
| Other employer contributions | The same schedule (0% below two years of service, 100% at two years or more) applies to employer contributions generally |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are at all times fully vested in their own contributions and earnings thereon. Vesting in employer contributions and earnings thereon is based on the following vesting schedule:”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Abbott Laboratories' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Abbott Laboratories' filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | Employees are eligible to commence participation on any entry date following their date of hire; United States employees of Abbott and selected participating subsidiaries and affiliates may participate after meeting certain employment requirements |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“Employees are eligible to commence participation in the Plan on any entry date following their date of hire. Eligible employees electing to participate contribute from 2% up to 50% of their eligible earnings, subject to certain limitations.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Abbott Laboratories plan report on Form 5500?
The Abbott Laboratories plan reported $15.8B in assets and 60,437 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $15,755,668,000 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 60,437 |
| Recordkeeper | Alight Solutions (Recordkeeper); The Northern Trust Company (Custodian And Trustee); Effective January 1, 2026 Fidelity Investments Replaced Alight As Recordkeeper And Fidelity Management Trust Company Replaced Northern Trust As Custodian And Trustee For The Abbott And AbbVie Common Stock Investment Options |
How that cost compares
It is one of 942 plans in pharmaceuticals and chemicals in the Form 5500 data we publish.
Abbott Laboratories Stock Retirement Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Abbott Laboratories' 401(k) match compare?
Abbott Laboratories' maximum 401(k) match of 5% of pay compares with a median of 4.5% across the 181 companies in our data with a computable formula.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, two land near Abbott Laboratories' maximum match and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 5% of pay, level with Abbott Laboratories.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay, 0.5 points below Abbott Laboratories.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Same 2-year cliff as Abbott Laboratories.
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Fidelity NetBenefits ↗, the recordkeeper this plan reports.
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR. Every match fact on this page comes from it.
- Changed jobs? Find an old 401(k) ↗
The Department of Labor's Retirement Savings Lost & Found, a free government database.
- This year's IRS contribution limits ↗
The official deferral and catch-up limits every formula operates under.
- Download this data (CSV)
Formula, vesting and source references for this company, one file.
Questions this filing answers
What is Abbott Laboratories' 401(k) match?
Abbott Laboratories contributes 5% of eligible pay for employees who contribute at least 2% themselves (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Abbott Laboratories 401(k) match vest?
Cliff: 100% vested after 2 years of service.
Does Abbott Laboratories' 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Abbott Laboratories 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001104659-26-075724, plan year ended 2025-12-31.