Caterpillar Inc. 401(k): Alight, match 6% max
Caterpillar 401(k) Savings Plan · CAT · CIK 18230
Alight 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%
Caterpillar Inc. matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 6% of pay.
Caterpillar's Form 11-K filings for plan year 2025 describe five separate 401(k) plans. The terms on this page are read from the Caterpillar 401(k) Savings Plan. They do not all state the same match, so each one is listed below with the group it covers and what it pays.
From the Form 11-K filed June 25, 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: which plan you are in · 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
Which Caterpillar 401(k) plan are you in?
Caterpillar's Form 11-K filings for this plan year describe five plans, and they do not state the same match. Find the plan you are in before you take a number off this page. The terms in the rest of the page are read from the Caterpillar 401(k) Savings Plan.
Caterpillar 401(k) Savings Plan (the plan this page answers for)
The filing states no limit on who this plan covers · Form 11-K ↗
6% of pay, at most
Caterpillar Inc. Tax Deferred Retirement Plan
The filing states no limit on who this plan covers · Form 11-K ↗
4.5% of pay, at most
Solar Savings and Investment Plan
The filing states no limit on who this plan covers · Form 11-K ↗
6% of pay, at most
Caterpillar Global Mining Legacy Hourly Employees' Savings Plan
Hourly employees · Form 11-K ↗
6% of pay, at most
Caterpillar Rail Division Retirement Savings Plan for Collectively Bargained Employees
Employees in the Rail Division covered by a collective-bargaining agreement · Form 11-K ↗
3% of pay, at most
One row per plan, taken from the five Form 11-K reports this site has read for the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Each maximum comes from that plan’s own filing and describes only that plan.
What Caterpillar puts in, and what the plan costs
What Caterpillar put into the plan, per active participant
$10,947
Caterpillar Inc. put $10,947 into this plan for each of its 44,489 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.
Caterpillar put in more per active participant than 99% of plans with 5,000+ participants in industrial and materials manufacturing. The middle plan in that group of 178 reported $3,585. Industrial and materials manufacturing comes from business code 333100, which Caterpillar 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 Caterpillar 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 370602744, plan 035 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $10,947 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Caterpillar Inc. 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 Caterpillar puts in
$2,970
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Participants are also eligible for an employer matching contribution of 100 percent of participant 401(k) contributions, up to a maximum of 6 percent of eligible compensation. There are certain exceptions where participants are eligible for an employer matching contribution of 50 percent of participant 401(k) contributions, up to a maximum of 6 percent of eligible compensation.”
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 fully vested in their participant contributions, employer matching contributions and related earnings thereon. Participants fully vest in the employer non-elective contributions and the related earnings thereon after being credited with three years of vesting service. The Plan provides for 100 percent vesting of the employer non-elective contributions and the related earnings thereon upon a participant's death while actively employed or while performing qualified military 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
93rd percentile
$136.10 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 93% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Caterpillar's 401(k) match formula?
Caterpillar's 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 | There are certain exceptions where participants are eligible for an employer matching contribution of 50 percent of participant 401(k) contributions, up to a maximum of 6 percent of eligible compensation |
| Other employer contribution | Type 1 annual non-elective contribution of 3, 4 or 5 percent of eligible compensation, set by a point total of age plus years of benefit service |
| Other employer contribution | Type 2 annual non-elective contribution of 3 percent of eligible compensation |
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
“Participants are also eligible for an employer matching contribution of 100 percent of participant 401(k) contributions, up to a maximum of 6 percent of eligible compensation. There are certain exceptions where participants are eligible for an employer matching contribution of 50 percent of participant 401(k) contributions, up to a maximum of 6 percent of eligible compensation.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Caterpillar's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Caterpillar 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 | Employer non-elective contributions vest after three years of vesting service, and 100 percent upon death while actively employed or while performing qualified military service |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are fully vested in their participant contributions, employer matching contributions and related earnings thereon. Participants fully vest in the employer non-elective contributions and the related earnings thereon after being credited with three years of vesting service. The Plan provides for 100 percent vesting of the employer non-elective contributions and the related earnings thereon upon a participant's death while actively employed or while performing qualified military service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Caterpillar's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Caterpillar enrolls new hires automatically at 6% of pay, rising 1% a year to 15% of pay.
| Plan entry | Management, salaried and non-bargained hourly employees of the participating employers on U.S. payroll who meet certain age and service requirements and who are designated for participation by the Company |
|---|---|
| Match eligibility | All participants are eligible for the employer matching contribution |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15%; default investment: Target Retirement Fund closest to the year the participant turns age 65 |
Eligibility, word for word
“Management, salaried and non-bargained hourly employees of the participating employers on U.S. payroll who meet certain age and service requirements and who are designated for participation by the Company, are eligible to participate in the Plan. Participating eligible employees (the “participants”) elect to defer a portion of their eligible compensation through pre-tax and after-tax contributions.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“Newly eligible participants are subject to an automatic enrollment process. Unless electing otherwise, participants who become newly eligible will be enrolled with a default 6 percent deferral of their eligible compensation, and their default investment election is the Target Retirement Fund ("TRF") closest to the year in which the participant turns age 65. The automatic enrollment process has an automatic escalation feature whereby newly eligible participants will have their default 6 percent deferral of eligible compensation increase 1 percent each year until the participant is contributing 15 percent, unless the participant elects otherwise.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who holds your account
Schedule C of the Form 5500 filed for plan year 2024 reports Alight, filed as “ALIGHT SOLUTIONS LLC”. 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.
46 plans on file name Alight as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 46 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $87.90 per participant.
Participants log in at Alight, find your HR website ↗. Alight runs a separate site for each employer, so that page asks which employer you work for first. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Alight or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Alight |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 821061233 |
What does the Caterpillar plan report on Form 5500?
The Caterpillar plan reported $18.8B in assets and 60,290 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 | Caterpillar 401(k) Savings Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $18,812,004,780 |
| Participants | 60,290 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $136.10 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $136.10 per participant. The median across plans in industrial and materials manufacturing is $142.19, from the 5,709 of 6,008 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
Caterpillar 401(k) Savings Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Caterpillar's 401(k) match compare?
Caterpillar Inc.'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 in industrial and materials manufacturing, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in industrial and materials manufacturing.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also in industrial and materials manufacturing.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in industrial and materials manufacturing.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Alight.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Alight.
Employer match vests immediately. Vests immediately too, like Caterpillar.
What do Caterpillar's other 401(k) plans say?
Caterpillar Inc. Tax Deferred Retirement Plan
The filing states no limit on who this plan covers
Caterpillar Inc. matches 75% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
- Employer match vesting
- Cliff: 100% vested after 3 years of service
- Automatic enrollment
- Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15%; default investment: Target Retirement Fund closest to the year the participant turns age 65
What the filing says, word for word
“All participants are also eligible for employer matching contributions which are 75 percent of elective participant contributions up to a maximum of 6 percent of eligible compensation. Participants also receive an annual employer non-elective contribution equal to 3 percent of eligible compensation for the Plan year, subject to eligibility requirements. Upon attainment of 20 years of seniority, the Company will make a one-time $10,000 non-elective employer contribution into an eligible participant's account. The non-elective contributions are included in Employer contributions receivable on the Statements of Net Assets Available for Benefits and were $7.9 million and $8.0 million for the 2025 and 2024 Plan years, respectively.”
Solar Savings and Investment Plan
The filing states no limit on who this plan covers
Caterpillar Inc. matches 100% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
- Employer match vesting
- Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed
- Automatic enrollment
- Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15%; default investment: Target Retirement Fund closest to the year the participant turns age 65
What the filing says, word for word
“All participants are eligible to make participant contributions through a pre-tax deferral arrangement and an after-tax Roth 401(k) arrangement as elected by each participant. Participants who are at least 50 years old by the end of the calendar year are allowed to make a catch-up contribution for that year. Contributions are subject to certain limitations set by the IRC. All participants are also eligible for employer matching contributions which are 100 percent of participant 401(k) contributions up to a maximum of 6 percent of eligible compensation.”
Caterpillar Global Mining Legacy Hourly Employees' Savings Plan
Hourly employees
Caterpillar Inc. matches 100% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
- Employer match vesting
- Graded: 20% at 1 yr, 40% at 2 yr, 60% at 3 yr, 80% at 4 yr, 100% at 5 yr
- Automatic enrollment
- Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15%; default investment: Target Retirement Fund closest to the year the participant turns age 65
What the filing says, word for word
“All participants also are eligible for employer matching contributions which are 100 percent of participant 401(k) contributions up to a maximum of 6 percent of eligible compensation. Upon attainment of 20 years of seniority, the Company will make a one-time $10,000 non-elective employer contribution into an eligible participant's account.”
Caterpillar Rail Division Retirement Savings Plan for Collectively Bargained Employees
Employees in the Rail Division covered by a collective-bargaining agreement
Caterpillar Inc. matches 50% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
- Employer match vesting
- Cliff: 100% vested after 3 years of service
- Automatic enrollment
- Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence)
What the filing says, word for word
“Participants can contribute up to 60 percent of eligible compensation as a pre-tax 401(k) contribution, after-tax Roth 401(k) contribution and/or after-tax contribution. All Plan participants are eligible for employer matching contributions equal to 50 percent of the participant's 401(k) contributions and after-tax contributions up to a maximum of 6 percent of eligible compensation. Matching contributions are not made on catch-up contributions.”
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 25, 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 Caterpillar Inc.'s 401(k) match?
Caterpillar Inc. matches 100% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Caterpillar Inc. 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Caterpillar Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15%; default investment: Target Retirement Fund closest to the year the participant turns age 65.
Who is the recordkeeper for Caterpillar Inc.'s 401(k)?
Alight is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Caterpillar 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 Caterpillar 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 | Caterpillar Inc. |
| SEC CIK | 18230 |
| Accession number | 0000018230-26-000028 |
| Plan | Caterpillar 401(k) Savings Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 25, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Caterpillar 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, “Caterpillar Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000018230-26-000028, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
