401(k) Monitor

Cencora, Inc. 401(k) match: 4% max

Cencora Employee Investment Plan · COR · CIK 1140859

Maximum employer match, as a share of pay

4%

Cencora, Inc. matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% of pay.

From the Form 11-K filed June 18, 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 Cencora puts in, and what the plan costs

What Cencora put into the plan, per active participant

$3,889

Cencora, Inc. put $3,889 into this plan for each of its 16,073 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.

0 · least per person100 · most per person

Cencora put in more per active participant than 72% 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 Cencora 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 Cencora 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 233079390, plan 010 · DOL EFAST2

The $3,889 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Cencora, 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 Cencora puts in

$1,980

a year, at a $49,500 salary.

The match paragraph, word for word
The Company contributes to the Plan for each participating employee an amount equal to 100% of the participant’s contributions up to 3% and 50% on the next 2% of the participant’s eligible contributions.

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 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.

Vesting scheduleImmediate

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 immediately vest in their own contributions and actual earnings or losses thereon. In addition, participants are immediately vested in their Company matching contributions and actual earnings or losses thereon, except for certain participants merged into the Plan whose former matching contributions continue to vest according to the predecessor plan’s vesting provisions.

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.

The formula, the six-year window and a worked example

What the plan costs, against plans of its size

33rd percentile

$39.15 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 67% of plans with 5,000+ participants.

What is Cencora's 401(k) match formula?

Cencora'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 formula100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay
then50% of the next 2% of pay
Maximum employer match4% of compensation
Other employer contributionDiscretionary annual contribution at the discretion of the Company; requires employment on the last day of the Plan year except for retirement, disability, or death; $11,685,335 approved for the 2025 Plan year

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 contributes to the Plan for each participating employee an amount equal to 100% of the participant’s contributions up to 3% and 50% on the next 2% of the participant’s eligible contributions.

Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC

What is Cencora's 401(k) vesting schedule?

Cencora 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 vestingImmediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed
Your own contributionsImmediate: always 100% yours
Other employer contributionsCompany discretionary contributions vest on a graded schedule: 0% under 2 years of service, 25% at 2 years, 50% at 3 years, 75% at 4 years, 100% at 5 or more years; certain participants merged into the Plan continue to vest under predecessor plan provisions
Vesting, word for word
Participants immediately vest in their own contributions and actual earnings or losses thereon. In addition, participants are immediately vested in their Company matching contributions and actual earnings or losses thereon, except for certain participants merged into the Plan whose former matching contributions continue to vest according to the predecessor plan’s vesting provisions.

Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC

Who can join Cencora's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?

Cencora enrolls new hires automatically at 5% of pay, rising 1% a year to 10% of pay.

Plan entryEligible employees of Cencora, Inc. and affiliated companies who have at least 30 days of continuous employment
Automatic enrollmentYes: default deferral 5% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%; default investment: Fidelity Freedom Blend Commingled Pool Class T retirement date fund based on anticipated retirement date
Eligibility, word for word
The Plan is a defined contribution plan that covers eligible employees of Cencora, Inc. and affiliated companies (collectively, the "Company" or "Employer"), who have at least 30 days of continuous employment.
Automatic enrollment, word for word
If automatically enrolled, a participant’s deferral is set at a 5% pretax contribution rate of eligible compensation until changed by the participant. The automatic deferral percentage increases by 1% each year on the anniversary date of the participant’s automatic enrollment date but will not exceed 10% of compensation.

Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC

What does the Cencora plan report on Form 5500?

The Cencora plan reported $2.1B in assets and 25,829 participants for plan year 2024.

DOL Form 5500 filing for plan year 2024, EIN 233079390, plan 010.
Total plan assets$2,100,197,800
Participants25,829
RecordkeeperFidelity Investments
Plan-paid admin cost per participant$39.15

How that cost compares

This plan pays $39.15 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.

The plan reports Fidelity Investments as its recordkeeper, one of 10,593 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 10,022 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $97.71 per participant.

Cencora Employee Investment Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials

How does Cencora's 401(k) match compare?

Cencora, Inc.'s maximum 401(k) match of 4% 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 wholesale trade, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.

Cardinal Health

Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in wholesale trade.

Henry Schein

Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in wholesale trade.

NIKE

Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in wholesale trade.

CBRE

Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.

Comerica

Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.

Caterpillar

Maximum match 6% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Cencora.

Compare Cencora, Inc. with any company, side by side

What can you do next?

Check your own balance and contribution rate at Fidelity NetBenefits, the recordkeeper this plan reports.

Questions this filing answers

What is Cencora, Inc.'s 401(k) match?

Cencora, Inc. matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% of compensation (plan year ended December 31, 2025).

When does the Cencora, Inc. 401(k) match vest?

Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.

Does Cencora, Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?

Yes: default deferral 5% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%; default investment: Fidelity Freedom Blend Commingled Pool Class T retirement date fund based on anticipated retirement date.

Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Cencora, Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001140859-26-000026, plan year ended 2025-12-31.