Macy's, Inc. 401(k): Merrill Lynch, match 3.5% max
Macy's, Inc. 401(k) Retirement Investment Plan · M · CIK 794367
Merrill Lynch 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
3.5%
Macy's, Inc. matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 1% of pay, then 50% of the next 5% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 3.5% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 26, 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 Macy's puts in, and what the plan costs
What Macy's put into the plan, per active participant
$855
Macy's, Inc. put $855 into this plan for each of its 103,247 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.
Macy's put in more per active participant than 63% of plans with 5,000+ participants in retail. The middle plan in that group of 196 reported $700. Retail comes from business code 452200, which Macy's 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 Macy's 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 133324058, plan 013 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $855 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Macy's, Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,733 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 Macy's puts in
$1,733
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Company contributions are made as soon as administratively feasible after year end. Company contributions, based on the appropriate matching contribution rate when combined with forfeitures, are contributed in cash directly to the Plan following the participants' investment elections. For the 2025 and 2024 Plan years, the contributions up to 6% of eligible compensation made by participants not eligible for pension credits were considered “basic savings” which were eligible for matching Company contributions. For such contributions, the Company contribution rates were equal to 100% on the first 1% of basic savings and 50% on the next 5% of basic savings.”
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
71.43 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 32% 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: 0%, 0%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately 100% vested in their own contributions and become 100% vested in the Company's contributions after 2 years of service. 100% vesting is also achieved through normal retirement, death or disability.”
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
“All active employees, unless excluded per the terms of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, are eligible for voluntary immediate participation in the Plan. After one year of service of at least 1,000 hours and after reaching a minimum age of 21, all employees are eligible for participation under the Company-Match Eligible Program in the Plan.”
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
15th percentile
$20.37 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 85% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Macy's 401(k) match formula?
Macy's 401(k) employer match tops out at 3.5% of pay. The match is deposited once a year. 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 | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 1% of pay |
|---|---|
| then | 50% of the next 5% of pay |
| Maximum employer match | 3.5% of compensation |
| Deposited | Once a year |
| Paid in company stock | No, paid in cash or per your investment elections |
| Conditions | Only contributions up to 6% of eligible compensation made by participants not eligible for pension credits are considered basic savings eligible for matching Company contributions. Rates are stated for the 2025 and 2024 Plan years. Company contributions are made as soon as administratively feasible after year end. |
At a $90,000 salary, contributing 6% ($5,400) earns the full employer match of $3,150 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“Company contributions are made as soon as administratively feasible after year end. Company contributions, based on the appropriate matching contribution rate when combined with forfeitures, are contributed in cash directly to the Plan following the participants' investment elections. For the 2025 and 2024 Plan years, the contributions up to 6% of eligible compensation made by participants not eligible for pension credits were considered “basic savings” which were eligible for matching Company contributions. For such contributions, the Company contribution rates were equal to 100% on the first 1% of basic savings and 50% on the next 5% of basic savings.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Macy's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Macy's vests the employer match on a cliff schedule: nothing is yours until two years of service, then 100% at once. Leave a day early and the employer money goes back to the plan, the edge a two-year cliff creates.
| Employer match vesting | Cliff: 100% vested after 2 years of service |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Accelerated vesting | 100% vesting is also achieved through normal retirement, death or disability |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately 100% vested in their own contributions and become 100% vested in the Company's contributions after 2 years of service. 100% vesting is also achieved through normal retirement, death or disability.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Macy's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Macy's filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | All active employees, unless excluded per the terms of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, are eligible for voluntary immediate participation in the Plan |
|---|---|
| Match eligibility | After one year of service of at least 1,000 hours and after reaching a minimum age of 21, all employees are eligible for participation under the Company-Match Eligible Program |
| Excluded groups | Employees excluded per the terms of a Collective Bargaining Agreement |
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“All active employees, unless excluded per the terms of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, are eligible for voluntary immediate participation in the Plan. After one year of service of at least 1,000 hours and after reaching a minimum age of 21, all employees are eligible for participation under the Company-Match Eligible Program in the Plan.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who holds your account
Schedule C of the Form 5500 filed for plan year 2024 reports Merrill Lynch, filed as “MERRILL LYNCH PIERCE FENNER & SMITH”. 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.
663 plans on file name Merrill Lynch as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 659 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $87.18 per participant.
Participants log in at Merrill Benefits OnLine ↗. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Merrill Lynch or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Merrill Lynch |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 910781053 |
What does the Macy's plan report on Form 5500?
The Macy's plan reported $4.6B in assets and 170,858 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 | Macys Inc. 401(k) Retirement Investment Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $4,635,407,000 |
| Participants | 170,858 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $20.37 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $20.37 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.
Macys Inc. 401(k) Retirement Investment Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Macy's 401(k) match compare?
Macy's, Inc.'s maximum 401(k) match of 3.5% 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 retail, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 3.75% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Merrill Lynch.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Merrill Lynch.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same 2-year cliff as Macy's.
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 26, 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 Macy's, Inc.'s 401(k) match?
Macy's, Inc. matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 1% of pay, then 50% of the next 5% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 3.5% of compensation (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Macy's, Inc. 401(k) match vest?
Cliff: 100% vested after 2 years of service.
Does Macy's, Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Who is the recordkeeper for Macy's, Inc.'s 401(k)?
Merrill Lynch is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Macys Inc. 401(k) Retirement Investment 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 Macy's, 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 | Macy's, Inc. |
| SEC CIK | 794367 |
| Accession number | 0001628280-26-045743 |
| Plan | Macy's, Inc. 401(k) Retirement Investment Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 26, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Macy's, 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, “Macy's, Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001628280-26-045743, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
