401(k) Monitor

CVS Health Corporation 401(k) match: 5% max

CVS Health Future Fund 401(k) Plan · CVS · CIK 64803

Maximum employer match, as a share of pay

5%

CVS Health Corporation matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 5% 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 CVS Health puts in, and what the plan costs

What CVS Health put into the plan, per active participant

$1,778

CVS Health Corporation put $1,778 into this plan for each of its 313,966 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

CVS Health put in more per active participant than 86% of plans with 5,000+ participants in retail. The middle plan in that group of 196 reported $700. Retail comes from business code 446110, which CVS 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.

What this figure cannot separate: how much CVS 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 050494040, plan 017 · DOL EFAST2

The $1,778 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. CVS Health Corporation also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $2,475 a year at a $49,500 salary. 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 CVS Health puts in

$2,475

a year, at a $49,500 salary.

The match paragraph, word for word
Plan participants making elective deferrals are eligible to receive Company matching contributions with the first administratively feasible payroll date following the completion of one year of service with the Company. One year of service is defined as either: •12 months of service, beginning on the employee's employment date, during which the employee completed at least 1,000 hours of service, or •1,000 hours of service in any plan year following the calendar year in which the employee was hired. The Plan provides a match of 100% up to 5% of an employee’s eligible compensation contributed to the Plan per payroll. The maximum annual match per participant was $17,500 for 2025 and $17,250 for 2024.

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 are 100% vested at all times in participant and Company matching contributions. Participants are always fully vested in and have a non-forfeitable right to (1) their accounts upon retirement, death or disability, (2) any elective deferrals described in Note 1(c) and (3) any rollover amounts they make to the Plan.
Wait before the match starts1 year

A worker hired today collects no match for 1 year. This is a filed term, and it does not move the score above.

Eligibility, word for word
Eligible employees who have attained age 18 are able to participate in the Plan for purposes of making their own salary deferral contributions as of the first of the month following their employment date. Eligible employees are defined as regular employees of the Company other than: •A nonresident alien receiving no United States (“U.S.”) earned income from the Company; •A resident of Puerto Rico; •An individual covered under a collective bargaining agreement where retirement benefits were the subject of good faith bargaining (unless the agreement provides for membership); •A leased employee (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”); or •An independent contractor or consultant (as defined by the Company).

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

94th percentile

$142.85 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 94% of plans with 5,000+ participants.

What is CVS Health's 401(k) match formula?

CVS Health's 401(k) employer match tops out at 5% of pay. The match is deposited each payroll. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.

Match formula100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 5% of pay
Maximum employer match5% of compensation
DepositedEach payroll
ConditionsThe maximum annual match per participant was $17,500 for 2025 and $17,250 for 2024

At a $90,000 salary, contributing 5% ($4,500) earns the full employer match of $4,500 for the year.

What the filing says, word for word
Plan participants making elective deferrals are eligible to receive Company matching contributions with the first administratively feasible payroll date following the completion of one year of service with the Company. One year of service is defined as either: •12 months of service, beginning on the employee's employment date, during which the employee completed at least 1,000 hours of service, or •1,000 hours of service in any plan year following the calendar year in which the employee was hired. The Plan provides a match of 100% up to 5% of an employee’s eligible compensation contributed to the Plan per payroll. The maximum annual match per participant was $17,500 for 2025 and $17,250 for 2024.

Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC

What is CVS Health's 401(k) vesting schedule?

CVS 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 vestingImmediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed
Your own contributionsImmediate: always 100% yours
Vesting, word for word
Participants are 100% vested at all times in participant and Company matching contributions. Participants are always fully vested in and have a non-forfeitable right to (1) their accounts upon retirement, death or disability, (2) any elective deferrals described in Note 1(c) and (3) any rollover amounts they make to the Plan.

Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC

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

CVS Health's filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.

Plan entryEligible employees who have attained age 18 may participate for purposes of making salary deferral contributions as of the first of the month following their employment date
Match eligibilityEligible for Company matching contributions with the first administratively feasible payroll date following the completion of one year of service (12 months with at least 1,000 hours of service beginning on the employment date, or 1,000 hours of service in any plan year following the calendar year of hire)
Excluded groupsNonresident aliens receiving no U.S. earned income, residents of Puerto Rico, individuals covered under a collective bargaining agreement where retirement benefits were the subject of good faith bargaining (unless the agreement provides for membership), leased employees, and independent contractors or consultants
Automatic enrollmentNot mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence)
Eligibility, word for word
Eligible employees who have attained age 18 are able to participate in the Plan for purposes of making their own salary deferral contributions as of the first of the month following their employment date. Eligible employees are defined as regular employees of the Company other than: •A nonresident alien receiving no United States (“U.S.”) earned income from the Company; •A resident of Puerto Rico; •An individual covered under a collective bargaining agreement where retirement benefits were the subject of good faith bargaining (unless the agreement provides for membership); •A leased employee (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”); or •An independent contractor or consultant (as defined by the Company).

Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC

What does the CVS Health plan report on Form 5500?

The CVS Health plan reported $30.1B in assets and 307,068 participants for plan year 2024.

DOL Form 5500 filing for plan year 2024, EIN 050494040, plan 017.
Total plan assets$30,087,909,242
Participants307,068
RecordkeeperVanguard
Plan-paid admin cost per participant$142.85

How that cost compares

This plan pays $142.85 per participant. The median across plans in retail is $93.99, from the 2,177 of 2,305 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.

CVS Health Future Fund 401(k) Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials

How does CVS Health's 401(k) match compare?

CVS Health Corporation's maximum 401(k) match of 5% 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 retail, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.

Lowe's

Maximum match 4.25% of pay. Also in retail.

Kroger

Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in retail.

Best Buy

Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in retail.

Xcel Energy

Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.

Boston Scientific

Maximum match 6% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.

Cummins

Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Vests immediately too, like CVS Health.

Compare CVS Health Corporation with any company, side by side

What can you do next?

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

Questions this filing answers

What is CVS Health Corporation's 401(k) match?

CVS Health Corporation matches 100% of employee contributions up to 5% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).

When does the CVS Health Corporation 401(k) match vest?

Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.

Does CVS Health Corporation's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?

Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).

Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “CVS Health Corporation 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000064803-26-000090, plan year ended 2025-12-31.