Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. 401(k) match: 3% max
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Retirement Savings Plan · APD · CIK 2969
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
3%
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. matches 50% of the first 6% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 23, 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 Air Products puts in, and what the plan costs
What Air Products put into the plan, per active participant
$7,800
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. put $7,800 into this plan for each of its 6,914 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.
Air Products put in less per active participant than 56% 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 325900, which Air Products 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 Air Products 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 231274455, plan 001 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $7,800 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,485 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 Air Products puts in
$1,485
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Since 1 January 2022, the Company will match 50% of the first 6% of an eligible Participant's annual salary that is deferred to the Plan as a before-tax contribution or a Roth 401(k) contribution. Catch-up contributions are not eligible for Company matching contributions.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 6% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $2,970 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
100 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 48% 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: 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in 100% of their elected salary deferrals, rollover contributions, the Company’s matching contributions, Company core contributions, and earnings thereon.”
The plan tops the match up after year end, so contributing unevenly through the year does not cost the worker part of it.
The same match paragraph, word for word
“Since 1 January 2022, the Company will match 50% of the first 6% of an eligible Participant's annual salary that is deferred to the Plan as a before-tax contribution or a Roth 401(k) contribution. Catch-up contributions are not eligible for Company matching contributions.”
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
45th percentile
$50.11 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 55% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Air Products' 401(k) match formula?
Air Products' 401(k) employer match tops out at 3% of pay. The plan pays an annual true-up. What an annual true-up repays is the arithmetic behind that line: it matters most in a year when contributions land unevenly.
| Match formula | 50% of the first 6% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 3% of compensation |
| True-upA year-end recalculation that repays match lost to uneven contributions. | Yes, annual true-up |
| Paid in company stock | Yes |
| Conditions | Annual true-up to the maximum match under the formula applies only to participants employed by the Company on the last day of the Plan year. Catch-up contributions are not matched. Union employees may receive matching contributions subject to the terms of their collective bargaining agreement. |
| Current formula effective | January 1, 2022 |
| Other employer contribution | Company core contribution of 5% of base pay if credited service is less than 10 years, 6% if between 10 and 19 years, or 7% if 20 years or more; eligible participants receive it without contributing |
At a $60,000 salary, contributing 6% ($3,600) earns the full employer match of $1,800 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“Since 1 January 2022, the Company will match 50% of the first 6% of an eligible Participant's annual salary that is deferred to the Plan as a before-tax contribution or a Roth 401(k) contribution. Catch-up contributions are not eligible for Company matching contributions.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Air Products' 401(k) vesting schedule?
Air Products vests the employer match immediately: 100% is yours as soon as it is paid in. Nothing is forfeited when you leave, which is not true of the two schedules that vest over time.
| Employer match vesting | Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Other employer contributions | Company core contributions are also immediately 100% vested |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in 100% of their elected salary deferrals, rollover contributions, the Company’s matching contributions, Company core contributions, and earnings thereon.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Air Products' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Air Products' filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | Employees may make before-tax and Roth 401(k) contributions after completing at least 30 days of service |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement participate only if the agreement provides for Plan participation |
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“Participants of the Plan are entitled to make before-tax contributions and Roth 401(k) contributions as allowed by Sections 401(k) and 401(m) of the Internal Revenue Code ("IRC") after having completed at least 30 days of service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Air Products plan report on Form 5500?
The Air Products plan reported $2.7B in assets and 9,128 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $2,732,907,838 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 9,128 |
| Recordkeeper | Fidelity Investments |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $50.11 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $50.11 per participant. The median across plans in pharmaceuticals and chemicals is $128.47, from the 870 of 942 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
The plan reports Fidelity Investments as its recordkeeper, one of 10,593 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 10,022 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $97.71 per participant.
How does Air Products' 401(k) match compare?
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.'s maximum 401(k) match of 3% 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 report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 2% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Air Products.
Compare Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. with any company, side by side
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 23, 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 Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.'s 401(k) match?
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. matches 50% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000002969-26-000026, plan year ended 2025-12-31.