American Express Company 401(k) match: 6% max
American Express Retirement Savings Plan · AXP · CIK 4962
Principal is the recordkeeper named on the Form 5500 filed for this plan, the company that keeps the account records. Where to log in, and what the filing says.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing.
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
6%
American Express Company matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 6% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 17, 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 · who holds your account · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What American Express puts in, and what the plan costs
What American Express put into the plan, per active participant
$10,702
American Express Company put $10,702 into this plan for each of its 25,049 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.
American Express put in more per active participant than 92% of plans with 5,000+ participants at banks and lenders. The middle plan in that group of 66 reported $4,881. Banks and lenders comes from business code 522298, which American Express 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.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
What this figure cannot separate: how much American Express 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 134922250, plan 002 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $10,702 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. American Express Company also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $2,970 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 American Express puts in
$2,970
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“The Company matches 100% of a participant’s Before-Tax Contributions and/or Roth Contributions up to 6% of Total Pay after a participant’s completion of six months of service.”
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 369 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 their elective Before-Tax, Roth and After-Tax Contributions and rollovers, if any, as well as the investment earnings on the foregoing. Other contributions become vested as set forth below: Company Matching Contributions Company Matching Contributions and investment earnings thereon are immediately 100% vested. Fixed Rate Contributions Fixed Rate Contributions and investment earnings thereon are 100% vested after the earlier of three years of service or, if still employed by the Company or an affiliate, at or after attainment of age 65, disability or death.”
A worker hired today collects no match for 6 months. This is a filed term, and it does not move the score above.
Eligibility, word for word
“Under the terms of the Plan, regular full-time and certain part-time U.S.-paid employees of American Express Company and its participating subsidiaries (the “Company”) can make elective contributions to the Plan beginning as soon as practicable after their date of hire, and eligible employees hired for the first time on or after January 1, 2017 as well as those rehired on or after January 1, 2022 are covered by the Plan’s automatic enrollment provisions. Eligible employees can qualify to receive Company contributions, if any, upon completion of six months of service.”
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
99th percentile
$356.79 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 99% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is American Express' 401(k) match formula?
American Express' 401(k) employer match tops out at 6% of pay. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 6% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 6% of compensation |
| Conditions | Match applies to Before-Tax and/or Roth Contributions after completion of six months of service; After-Tax Contributions and rollovers are not matched |
| Other employer contribution | Fixed Rate Contribution, typically 2% or 3% of Total Pay annually depending on pay band level, for participants with six months of service who are employed on the last working day of the plan year (or disabled), regardless of whether the participant contributes |
| Other employer contribution | Discretionary Profit Sharing Contributions are permitted; none were made in 2025 or 2024 |
| Other employer contribution | Qualified Non-Elective Contributions are permitted at Company discretion; none were made in 2025 or 2024 |
| Other employer contribution | Disability Contributions for certain qualifying participants who become disabled |
At a $75,000 salary, contributing 6% ($4,500) earns the full employer match of $4,500 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“The Company matches 100% of a participant’s Before-Tax Contributions and/or Roth Contributions up to 6% of Total Pay after a participant’s completion of six months of service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 17, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is American Express' 401(k) vesting schedule?
American Express 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 | Fixed Rate Contributions and Discretionary Profit Sharing Contributions vest 100% after the earlier of three years of service or, if still employed, attainment of age 65, disability or death; QNECs and Disability Contributions are immediately vested |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their elective Before-Tax, Roth and After-Tax Contributions and rollovers, if any, as well as the investment earnings on the foregoing. Other contributions become vested as set forth below: Company Matching Contributions Company Matching Contributions and investment earnings thereon are immediately 100% vested. Fixed Rate Contributions Fixed Rate Contributions and investment earnings thereon are 100% vested after the earlier of three years of service or, if still employed by the Company or an affiliate, at or after attainment of age 65, disability or death.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 17, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join American Express' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
American Express enrolls new hires automatically at 6% of pay, rising 1% a year to 10% of pay.
| Plan entry | Regular full-time and certain part-time U.S.-paid employees can make elective contributions beginning as soon as practicable after their date of hire |
|---|---|
| Match eligibility | Eligible employees qualify to receive Company contributions upon completion of six months of service |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%; default investment: The Retirement Fund (target date fund) associated with the year in which the participant turns 65 |
Eligibility, word for word
“Under the terms of the Plan, regular full-time and certain part-time U.S.-paid employees of American Express Company and its participating subsidiaries (the “Company”) can make elective contributions to the Plan beginning as soon as practicable after their date of hire, and eligible employees hired for the first time on or after January 1, 2017 as well as those rehired on or after January 1, 2022 are covered by the Plan’s automatic enrollment provisions. Eligible employees can qualify to receive Company contributions, if any, upon completion of six months of service.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“Eligible employees hired for the first time on or after January 1, 2017 as well as eligible employees rehired on or after January 1, 2022 are automatically enrolled to make Before-Tax Contributions equal to 6% of Total Pay, with a 1% automatic increase each year until the rate reaches 10%, unless the employee makes an alternative election to contribute at a different rate or opt out of automatic enrollment.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 17, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who holds your account
Schedule C of the Form 5500 filed for plan year 2024 reports Principal, filed as “PRINCIPAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY”. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to. The trustee that holds the plan’s assets can be a different company, and this filing does not name it.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
5,239 plans on file name Principal as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 5,230 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $170.05 per participant.
Participants log in at Principal ↗. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Principal or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Principal |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 420127290 |
What does the American Express plan report on Form 5500?
The American Express plan reported $9.1B in assets and 38,796 participants for plan year 2024.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
| Plan named in the DOL record | American Express Retirement Savings Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $9,068,227,739 |
| Participants | 38,796 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $356.79 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $356.79 per participant. The median across plans at banks and lenders is $152.83, from the 2,143 of 2,264 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
American Express Retirement Savings Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does American Express' 401(k) match compare?
American Express Company's maximum 401(k) match of 6% of pay compares with a median of 4% across the 269 companies in our data with a computable formula.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file at banks and lenders, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also at banks and lenders.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also at banks and lenders.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also at banks and lenders.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Employer match vests immediately. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Vests immediately too, like American Express.
Compare American Express Company with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 17, 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.
Questions this filing answers
What is American Express Company's 401(k) match?
American Express Company matches 100% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the American Express Company 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does American Express Company's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%; default investment: The Retirement Fund (target date fund) associated with the year in which the participant turns 65.
Who is the recordkeeper for American Express Company's 401(k)?
Principal is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for American Express Retirement Savings Plan for plan year 2024. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to. Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
Source
The match formula, the vesting schedule and the enrollment rules on this page were read from one document: the Form 11-K annual report that American Express Company filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Each of those fields carries the filing sentence it was read from, expandable where the field appears. Nothing on this page was supplied by the employer to this site.
The plan assets, the participant counts, the plan-paid fees and the recordkeeper come from a different document, the plan’s DOL Form 5500 annual return, and the section that reports them links it. Comparisons with other employers are computed across the filings named in the section they appear in.
Read the filing on SEC EDGAR ↗
| Document | Form 11-K annual report |
|---|---|
| Filed with | US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) |
| Filed by | American Express Company |
| SEC CIK | 4962 |
| Accession number | 0000004962-26-000276 |
| Plan | American Express Retirement Savings Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 17, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with American Express Company, with the Securities and Exchange Commission or with this plan’s recordkeeper, and publishes this page without their involvement. It republishes a public filing and says where it came from.
Cite this page
401(k) Monitor, “American Express Company 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000004962-26-000276, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
