Cardinal Health, Inc. 401(k): Principal, match 4% max
Cardinal Health 401(k) Savings Plan · CAH · CIK 721371
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
4%
Cardinal Health, Inc. matches 200% of the first 1% of pay, then 50% of the next 4% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% of pay.
Cardinal Health filed two Form 11-K reports for plan year 2025, of which one has been read. The other report has not, so this page cannot say what the plan it covers pays.
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 · who holds your account · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What Cardinal Health puts in, and what the plan costs
What Cardinal Health put into the plan, per active participant
$2,534
Cardinal Health, Inc. put $2,534 into this plan for each of its 31,015 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.
Cardinal Health put in less per active participant than 51% of plans with 5,000+ participants in wholesale trade. The middle plan in that group of 100 reported $2,549. Wholesale trade comes from business code 424210, which Cardinal Health 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 Cardinal Health 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 310958666, plan 055 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $2,534 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Cardinal Health, Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,980 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 Cardinal Health puts in
$1,980
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“The Company match is 200% of each participant’s compensation deferral contributions that do not exceed 1% of the participant’s compensation, and 50% of each participant’s compensation deferral contributions that exceed 1% of the participant’s compensation but that do not exceed 5% of the participant’s compensation. Matching contributions are allocated on an aggregate basis to both pre-tax and Roth elective contributions, subject to the matching limitations in the preceding sentences.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 5% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $2,475 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 100% vested immediately in their elective deferral, rollover, and Company matching contributions, plus actual earnings thereon. A participant is 100% vested in the Company’s discretionary employer and discretionary special contributions after three years of vesting service, or if the participant dies, becomes totally disabled, or reaches retirement age, as defined by the Plan document, while employed by the Company. The Plan provides for the partial vesting of the Company contributions to non-highly compensated participants with more than one year, but less than three years, of vesting service, who were terminated as part of a designated reduction in workforce, as defined in the Plan document.”
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
42nd percentile
$47.11 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 58% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Cardinal Health's 401(k) match formula?
Cardinal Health's 401(k) employer match tops out at 4% of pay. A tiered formula pays its best rate on the first slice of pay and less on the next, which is how the rate steps down.
| Match formula | 200% of the first 1% of pay |
|---|---|
| then | 50% of the next 4% of pay |
| Maximum employer match | 4% of compensation |
| Conditions | Matching contributions are allocated on an aggregate basis to both pre-tax and Roth elective contributions. |
| Other employer contribution | Discretionary employer contributions allocated on eligible compensation and compensation above the Social Security taxable wage base; generally require employment on the last day of the Company's fiscal year (June 30); none made for 2025 or 2024 |
| Other employer contribution | Discretionary special contributions allocated ratably on eligible compensation of the eligible group; none made for 2025 or 2024 |
At a $90,000 salary, contributing 5% ($4,500) earns the full employer match of $3,600 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“The Company match is 200% of each participant’s compensation deferral contributions that do not exceed 1% of the participant’s compensation, and 50% of each participant’s compensation deferral contributions that exceed 1% of the participant’s compensation but that do not exceed 5% of the participant’s compensation. Matching contributions are allocated on an aggregate basis to both pre-tax and Roth elective contributions, subject to the matching limitations in the preceding sentences.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What is Cardinal Health's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Cardinal Health 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 | Discretionary employer and discretionary special contributions vest 100% after three years of vesting service, or upon death, total disability, or reaching retirement age while employed; partial vesting for non-highly compensated participants with more than one but less than three years of vesting service terminated in a designated reduction in workforce |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are 100% vested immediately in their elective deferral, rollover, and Company matching contributions, plus actual earnings thereon. A participant is 100% vested in the Company’s discretionary employer and discretionary special contributions after three years of vesting service, or if the participant dies, becomes totally disabled, or reaches retirement age, as defined by the Plan document, while employed by the Company. The Plan provides for the partial vesting of the Company contributions to non-highly compensated participants with more than one year, but less than three years, of vesting service, who were terminated as part of a designated reduction in workforce, as defined in the Plan document.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Cardinal Health's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Cardinal Health's filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | Substantially all U.S. employees of the Company and certain subsidiaries; eligible employees participate upon their date of hire |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for participation) and employees covered by the Cardinal Health 401(k) Savings Plan for Employees of Puerto Rico |
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“The Cardinal Health 401(k) Savings Plan (the “Plan”) is a defined contribution plan, covering substantially all U.S. employees of Cardinal Health, Inc. (the “Company”) and certain of its subsidiaries. Employees who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement are not eligible to participate, unless the agreement provides for participation, and employees who are covered by the Cardinal Health 401(k) Savings Plan for Employees of Puerto Rico are not eligible to participate. Eligible employees participate upon their date of hire.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 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 Cardinal Health plan report on Form 5500?
The Cardinal Health plan reported $4.8B in assets and 45,111 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 | Cardinal Health 401(k) Savings Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $4,764,536,322 |
| Participants | 45,111 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $47.11 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $47.11 per participant. The median across plans in wholesale trade is $149.72, from the 3,304 of 3,490 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
Cardinal Health 401(k) Savings Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Cardinal Health's 401(k) match compare?
Cardinal Health, Inc.'s maximum 401(k) match of 4% 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 in wholesale trade, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in wholesale trade.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in wholesale trade.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in wholesale trade.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Cardinal Health.
Compare Cardinal Health, Inc. with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
- 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.
Questions this filing answers
What is Cardinal Health, Inc.'s 401(k) match?
Cardinal Health, Inc. matches 200% of the first 1% of pay, then 50% of the next 4% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% of compensation (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Cardinal Health, Inc. 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Cardinal Health, Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Who is the recordkeeper for Cardinal Health, Inc.'s 401(k)?
Principal is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Cardinal Health 401(k) 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 Cardinal Health, Inc. 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 | Cardinal Health, Inc. |
| SEC CIK | 721371 |
| Accession number | 0000721371-26-000022 |
| Plan | Cardinal Health 401(k) Savings Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 23, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Cardinal Health, Inc., 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, “Cardinal Health, Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000721371-26-000022, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
