Cabot Corporation 401(k) match: 6% max
Cabot 401(k) Plan · CBT · CIK 16040
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
6%
Cabot Corporation matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) 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 Cabot puts in, and what the plan costs
What Cabot put into the plan, per active participant
$13,385
Cabot Corporation put $13,385 into this plan for each of its 1,054 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.
Cabot put in more per active participant than 90% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants in pharmaceuticals and chemicals. The middle plan in that group of 156 reported $5,739. Pharmaceuticals and chemicals comes from business code 325100, which Cabot 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 Cabot 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 042271897, plan 022 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $13,385 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Cabot Corporation 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 Cabot puts in
$2,970
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“The Company matching contribution is 100% up to the first 6% of eligible compensation and is made each pay period. The Plan also provides an employer matching true up contribution at year-end to ensure all participants receive a total match in the amount of the lesser of (1) 100% of the participant’s contribution for the year; or (2) 6% of the participant’s eligible compensation for the year.”
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
“All participants are at all times 100% vested in the Company match and earnings thereon, and are vested in the Company retirement contribution upon completion of 2 years of service.”
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
“The Company matching contribution is 100% up to the first 6% of eligible compensation and is made each pay period. The Plan also provides an employer matching true up contribution at year-end to ensure all participants receive a total match in the amount of the lesser of (1) 100% of the participant’s contribution for the year; or (2) 6% of the participant’s eligible compensation for the year.”
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
78th percentile
$136.14 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 78% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants.
What is Cabot's 401(k) match formula?
Cabot's 401(k) employer match tops out at 6% of pay. The match is deposited each payroll and 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 | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 6% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 6% of compensation |
| True-upA year-end recalculation that repays match lost to uneven contributions. | Yes, annual true-up |
| Deposited | Each payroll |
| Other employer contribution | Company retirement contribution of 4% of eligible earnings made each pay period, vested upon completion of 2 years of service |
| Other employer contribution | The Company may make discretionary contributions to participants; none were made during the year ended December 31, 2025 |
At a $45,000 salary, contributing 6% ($2,700) earns the full employer match of $2,700 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“The Company matching contribution is 100% up to the first 6% of eligible compensation and is made each pay period. The Plan also provides an employer matching true up contribution at year-end to ensure all participants receive a total match in the amount of the lesser of (1) 100% of the participant’s contribution for the year; or (2) 6% of the participant’s eligible compensation for the year.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Cabot's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Cabot 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 |
| Accelerated vesting | A participant’s entire account balance becomes 100% vested and payable upon the participant’s attainment of age 65, disability, or death. |
| Other employer contributions | Participants are vested in the Company retirement contribution upon completion of 2 years of service. |
Vesting, word for word
“All participants are at all times 100% vested in the Company match and earnings thereon, and are vested in the Company retirement contribution upon completion of 2 years of service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Cabot's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Cabot enrolls new hires automatically at 6% of pay, rising 1% a year to 15% of pay.
| Plan entry | All U.S. employees of the Company and its participating subsidiaries (except certain temporary and leased employees) are eligible to participate in the Plan beginning on the later of the first day of employment or the date the employee is included in an employee group which participates. |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | except certain temporary and leased employees |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; 60-day opt-out window; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15% |
Eligibility, word for word
“All U.S. employees of the Company and its participating subsidiaries (except certain temporary and leased employees) are eligible to participate in the Plan beginning on the later of the first day of employment or the date the employee is included in an employee group which participates.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“Participants are automatically enrolled in the Plan if they do not make an election to contribute within 60 days of their eligibility to participate. Participants who are automatically enrolled are deemed to have made an election to make pre-tax contributions in an amount of 6% of their eligible compensation and to increase this contribution rate by 1 % of employee eligible compensation each year in January, up to a maximum deferral rate of 15%.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Cabot plan report on Form 5500?
The Cabot plan reported $875.6M in assets and 1,910 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 | Cabot 401(k) Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $875,555,560 |
| Participants | 1,910 |
| Recordkeeper | Vanguard |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $136.14 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $136.14 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 Vanguard as its recordkeeper, one of 2,337 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 2,333 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $97.87 per participant.
Cabot 401(k) Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Cabot's 401(k) match compare?
Cabot Corporation's maximum 401(k) match of 6% 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 6% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Cabot.
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Vanguard ↗, 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 Cabot Corporation's 401(k) match?
Cabot Corporation matches 100% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Cabot Corporation 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Cabot Corporation's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; 60-day opt-out window; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15%.
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Cabot Corporation 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001193125-26-279285, plan year ended 2025-12-31.