Norfolk Southern Corporation 401(k) match: 3.5% max
Thrift and Investment Plan of Norfolk Southern Corporation and Participating Subsidiary Companies · NSC · CIK 702165
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
3.5%
Norfolk Southern Corporation 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.
Norfolk Southern filed two Form 11-K reports for plan year 2025, of which one has been read. The other report has not, so this page cannot say what the plan it covers 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: 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 Norfolk Southern puts in, and what the plan costs
What Norfolk Southern put into the plan, per active participant
$3,205
Norfolk Southern Corporation put $3,205 into this plan for each of its 4,579 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.
Norfolk Southern put in less per active participant than 69% of plans with 5,000+ participants at holding companies. The middle plan in that group of 62 reported $4,209. Holding companies comes from business code 551112, which Norfolk Southern 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 Norfolk Southern 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 521188014, plan 002 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $3,205 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Norfolk Southern Corporation 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, 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 Norfolk Southern puts in
$1,733
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“NS contributes Matching Contributions of 100% of the sum of the Member’s Pre-Tax Contributions plus Roth Contributions not to exceed 1% of the Member’s Compensation, and 50% of the sum of the Member’s Pre-Tax 7 Contributions plus Roth Contributions that exceed 1% of the Member’s Compensation but does not exceed 6% of the Member’s 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 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
“A Member has an immediate, fully vested interest in all of the Member’s Accounts under the Plan, except that a Member will forfeit matching contributions associated with pre-tax contributions withdrawn under the Plan’s permissive withdrawal feature, which allows for withdrawals within 90 days of the first payroll in which pre-tax contributions were made to the Plan under the auto-enrollment feature.”
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
88th percentile
$114.09 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 88% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Norfolk Southern's 401(k) match formula?
Norfolk Southern's 401(k) employer match tops out at 3.5% 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 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 |
| Conditions | Matching contributions associated with pre-tax contributions withdrawn under the auto-enrollment permissive withdrawal feature are forfeited |
| Other employer contribution | Discretionary Contributions, if any, for employees of subsidiary companies ineligible to participate in the Retirement Plan of Norfolk Southern Corporation or another subsidiary defined benefit plan; amount determined each year as a specified percentage of compensation, generally requiring employment on the last day of the year |
At a $60,000 salary, contributing 6% ($3,600) earns the full employer match of $2,100 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“NS contributes Matching Contributions of 100% of the sum of the Member’s Pre-Tax Contributions plus Roth Contributions not to exceed 1% of the Member’s Compensation, and 50% of the sum of the Member’s Pre-Tax 7 Contributions plus Roth Contributions that exceed 1% of the Member’s Compensation but does not exceed 6% of the Member’s Compensation.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Norfolk Southern's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Norfolk Southern 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 | All Accounts are immediately fully vested, except matching contributions associated with pre-tax contributions withdrawn under the permissive withdrawal feature are forfeited |
Vesting, word for word
“A Member has an immediate, fully vested interest in all of the Member’s Accounts under the Plan, except that a Member will forfeit matching contributions associated with pre-tax contributions withdrawn under the Plan’s permissive withdrawal feature, which allows for withdrawals within 90 days of the first payroll in which pre-tax contributions were made to the Plan under the auto-enrollment feature.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Norfolk Southern's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Norfolk Southern enrolls new hires automatically at 6% of pay, rising 1% a year to 10% of pay.
| Plan entry | Nonagreement Employees of Norfolk Southern or any participating subsidiary company are automatically enrolled upon employment unless they opt out |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; 90-day opt-out window; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%; default investment: Vanguard Target Retirement Trust with a target date nearest to the date the Member will turn age 65 |
Eligibility, word for word
“Generally, Nonagreement Employees of NS or any participating subsidiary company are automatically enrolled to become a participant of the Plan (Member) upon employment unless the employee opts out of participation.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“A Member who is automatically enrolled in the Plan is enrolled at an initial Pre-Tax Contribution rate of 6% of the Member’s Compensation. A Member’s contribution rate automatically increases 1% annually, up to a maximum of 10%. At any time, a Member may elect to stop contributing, to contribute a percentage other than the automatic percentage, or to change the automatic 1% increase. Under automatic enrollment, a Member’s contributions are invested by default in the Vanguard Target Retirement Trust that has a target date nearest to the date on which the Member will turn age 65.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Norfolk Southern plan report on Form 5500?
The Norfolk Southern plan reported $1.6B in assets and 7,141 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $1,551,674,772 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 7,141 |
| Recordkeeper | Vanguard |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $114.09 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $114.09 per participant. The median across plans at holding companies is $106.24, from the 612 of 643 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.
How does Norfolk Southern's 401(k) match compare?
Norfolk Southern Corporation's maximum 401(k) match of 3.5% 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 at holding companies, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also at holding companies.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also at holding companies.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also at holding companies.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Norfolk Southern.
Compare Norfolk Southern 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.
- 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.
- Download this data (CSV)
Formula, vesting and source references for this company, one file.
Questions this filing answers
What is Norfolk Southern Corporation's 401(k) match?
Norfolk Southern Corporation 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 Norfolk Southern Corporation 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Norfolk Southern Corporation's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; 90-day opt-out window; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%; default investment: Vanguard Target Retirement Trust with a target date nearest to the date the Member will turn age 65.
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Norfolk Southern Corporation 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001628280-26-045590, plan year ended 2025-12-31.