Kimberly-Clark Corporation 401(k) match: 5% max
Kimberly-Clark Corporation 401(k) and Profit Sharing Plan · KMB · CIK 55785
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
5%
Kimberly-Clark 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 Kimberly-Clark puts in, and what the plan costs
What Kimberly-Clark put into the plan, per active participant
$11,673
Kimberly-Clark Corporation put $11,673 into this plan for each of its 11,273 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.
Kimberly-Clark put in more per active participant than 99% of plans with 5,000+ participants in medical devices and other manufacturing. The middle plan in that group of 81 reported $4,432. Medical devices and other manufacturing comes from business code 339900, which Kimberly-Clark 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 Kimberly-Clark 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 390394230, plan 016 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $11,673 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Kimberly-Clark 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, 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 Kimberly-Clark puts in
$2,475
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Employer matching contributions are matched 100% on the first 5% of eligible earnings with the exception to hourly union participants located in Mobile Operations whose Company Match Safe Harbor Contributions for a participant's pre-tax contributions, Roth 401(k) contributions or after-tax contributions remains on the first 4% of such participant's eligible earnings per pay period.”
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.
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
“Employees are immediately vested in their 401(k), after-tax, Roth 401(k), and rollover contributions as well as Employer matching contributions and profit sharing contributions.”
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
74th percentile
$83.23 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 74% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Kimberly-Clark's 401(k) match formula?
Kimberly-Clark's 401(k) employer match tops out at 5% 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 5% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 5% of compensation |
| Paid in company stock | No, paid in cash or per your investment elections |
| Conditions | Exception: hourly union participants located in Mobile Operations are matched on only the first 4% of eligible earnings per pay period |
| Other employer contribution | Discretionary annual profit sharing contribution based on the Corporation's adjusted earnings per share performance, ranging from 0% to 8% of eligible earnings; 3.8% for 2025 and 4.5% for 2024 |
At a $60,000 salary, contributing 5% ($3,000) earns the full employer match of $3,000 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“Employer matching contributions are matched 100% on the first 5% of eligible earnings with the exception to hourly union participants located in Mobile Operations whose Company Match Safe Harbor Contributions for a participant's pre-tax contributions, Roth 401(k) contributions or after-tax contributions remains on the first 4% of such participant's eligible earnings per pay period.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What is Kimberly-Clark's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Kimberly-Clark 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 | Profit sharing contributions are immediately vested |
Vesting, word for word
“Employees are immediately vested in their 401(k), after-tax, Roth 401(k), and rollover contributions as well as Employer matching contributions and profit sharing contributions.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Kimberly-Clark's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Kimberly-Clark enrolls new hires automatically at 8% of pay.
| Plan entry | Salary, hourly non-union and hourly union (as bargained) employees of the Corporation and its participating U.S. subsidiaries are eligible to participate |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 8% of pay |
Eligibility, word for word
“Salary, hourly non-union and hourly union (as bargained) employees of the Corporation and its participating U.S. subsidiaries (collectively, the "Employer") are eligible to participate in the Plan.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“Employees that are new hires or re-hires are automatically enrolled in the Plan at an 8% 401(k) contribution rate and have the option to opt out of the contribution.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Kimberly-Clark plan report on Form 5500?
The Kimberly-Clark plan reported $5.0B in assets and 17,481 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $4,988,151,000 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 17,481 |
| Recordkeeper | Fidelity Investments |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $83.23 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $83.23 per participant. The median across plans in medical devices and other manufacturing is $125.72, from the 1,386 of 1,455 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.
How does Kimberly-Clark's 401(k) match compare?
Kimberly-Clark 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 medical devices and other manufacturing, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also in medical devices and other manufacturing.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in medical devices and other manufacturing.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also in medical devices and other manufacturing.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.
Maximum match 7% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Kimberly-Clark.
Compare Kimberly-Clark Corporation 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.
- 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 Kimberly-Clark Corporation's 401(k) match?
Kimberly-Clark Corporation matches 100% of employee contributions up to 5% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Kimberly-Clark Corporation 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Kimberly-Clark Corporation's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 8% of pay.
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Kimberly-Clark Corporation 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001628280-26-044823, plan year ended 2025-12-31.