Badger Meter, Inc. 401(k) match: 1.75% of pay
Badger Meter Employee Savings and Stock Ownership Plan · BMI · CIK 9092
Employer match stated in the filing, as a share of pay
1.75%
Badger Meter, Inc. discloses only part of its 401(k) match terms: it matches 25% of the first 7% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 22, 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 Badger Meter puts in, and what the plan costs
What Badger Meter put into the plan, per active participant
$6,760
Badger Meter, Inc. put $6,760 into this plan for each of its 916 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.
Badger Meter put in more per active participant than 88% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants in computers and electronics manufacturing. The middle plan in that group of 90 reported $4,029. Computers and electronics manufacturing comes from business code 334500, which Badger Meter 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 Badger Meter 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 390143280, plan 009 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $6,760 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Badger Meter, Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $866 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 Badger Meter puts in
$866
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The filing discloses only part of the formula. The most it states the employer adds is 1.75% of pay, for a worker contributing 7% of pay.
The match paragraph, word for word
“The Company may make a discretionary matching contribution to the 401(k) savings component of the Plan. In order to be eligible to receive a Company match, a participant must be employed as of the last day of the plan year, retired within the year, or terminated employment during the plan year having attained age 55 with 5 years of service. Company matching contributions of $1,709,003 for 2025 were accrued in 2025 and paid in early 2026, which is equal to 25% of the first 7% of participants’ compensation, or 25% of the participant’s contribution, whichever is less.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 7% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $3,465 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 fully vested in their contributions, employer matching contributions and related earnings. There is a three-year cliff vesting requirement for Company contributions and related earnings in the defined and discretionary contribution components of the Plan.”
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
48th percentile
$81.28 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 53% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants.
What is Badger Meter's 401(k) match formula?
Badger Meter discloses only part of its 401(k) match terms: it matches 25% of the first 7% of pay. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 25% of the first 7% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 1.75% of compensation |
| Rate actually paid this plan yearAs reported in the filing. | Company matching contributions of $1,709,003 for 2025 were accrued in 2025 and paid in early 2026, which is equal to 25% of the first 7% of participants’ compensation, or 25% of the participant’s contribution, whichever is less. |
| Conditions | In order to be eligible to receive a Company match, a participant must be employed as of the last day of the plan year, retired within the year, or terminated employment during the plan year having attained age 55 with 5 years of service. |
| Other employer contribution | Defined contribution component equal to 5% of participants' eligible compensation up to the 2025 IRS social security wage base of $176,100, plus an additional 2% on earnings above that base, subject to a maximum compensation limit of $350,000; totaled $5,076,120 for 2025 |
| Other employer contribution | The Company may make additional discretionary contributions to the Plan, allocated at the discretion of the Plan Administrator |
What the filing says, word for word
“The Company may make a discretionary matching contribution to the 401(k) savings component of the Plan. In order to be eligible to receive a Company match, a participant must be employed as of the last day of the plan year, retired within the year, or terminated employment during the plan year having attained age 55 with 5 years of service. Company matching contributions of $1,709,003 for 2025 were accrued in 2025 and paid in early 2026, which is equal to 25% of the first 7% of participants’ compensation, or 25% of the participant’s contribution, whichever is less.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 22, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Badger Meter's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Badger Meter 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 | There is a three-year cliff vesting requirement for Company contributions and related earnings in the defined and discretionary contribution components of the Plan. |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately fully vested in their contributions, employer matching contributions and related earnings. There is a three-year cliff vesting requirement for Company contributions and related earnings in the defined and discretionary contribution components of the Plan.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 22, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Badger Meter's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Badger Meter's filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | Substantially all employees of Badger Meter, Inc. (the Company) in the United States are eligible to participate in the Plan. |
|---|---|
| Match eligibility | In order to be eligible to receive a Company match, a participant must be employed as of the last day of the plan year, retired within the year, or terminated employment during the plan year having attained age 55 with 5 years of service. |
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“Substantially all employees of Badger Meter, Inc. (the Company) in the United States are eligible to participate in the Plan.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 22, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Badger Meter plan report on Form 5500?
The Badger Meter plan reported $217.8M in assets and 1,111 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $217,799,861 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 1,111 |
| Recordkeeper | Charles Schwab |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $81.28 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $81.28 per participant. The median across plans in computers and electronics manufacturing is $136.67, from the 597 of 644 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
The plan reports Charles Schwab as its recordkeeper, one of 769 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 769 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $127.09 per participant.
How does Badger Meter's 401(k) match compare?
Badger Meter, Inc.'s maximum 401(k) match of 1.75% 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 computers and electronics manufacturing, one reports the same recordkeeper, one lands near Badger Meter's maximum match and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in computers and electronics manufacturing.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in computers and electronics manufacturing.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in computers and electronics manufacturing.
Maximum match 7.5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Charles Schwab.
Maximum match 1.5% of pay, 0.25 points below Badger Meter.
Maximum match 2.1% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Badger Meter.
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Schwab Workplace ↗, the recordkeeper this plan reports.
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 22, 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 Badger Meter, Inc.'s 401(k) match?
Badger Meter, Inc. discloses only part of its match terms in the 11-K for the plan year ended December 31, 2025; it matches 25% of employee contributions up to 7% of eligible pay.
When does the Badger Meter, Inc. 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Badger Meter, Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Badger Meter, Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001193125-26-277522, plan year ended 2025-12-31.