Pfizer Inc. 401(k): Fidelity, match 4.5% max
Pfizer Savings Plan · PFE · CIK 78003
Fidelity Investments 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
4.5%
Pfizer Inc. matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 3% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4.5% of pay.
Pfizer 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 16, 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 Pfizer puts in, and what the plan costs
What Pfizer put into the plan, per active participant
$18,743
Pfizer Inc. put $18,743 into this plan for each of its 29,469 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.
Pfizer put in more per active participant than 95% of plans with 5,000+ participants in pharmaceuticals and chemicals. The middle plan in that group of 63 reported $8,101. Pharmaceuticals and chemicals comes from business code 325410, which Pfizer 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 Pfizer 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 135315170, plan 002 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $18,743 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Pfizer Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $2,228 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 Pfizer puts in
$2,228
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“For all participants, contributions of up to 3% of eligible compensation are matched 100% by the Company and the next 3% are matched 50% by the Company. Participant contributions in excess of 6% are not matched.”
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 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: 100%, 100%, 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 contributions and the Company matching contributions. However, for the RSC, participants are 100% vested after three years of credited service.”
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
95th percentile
$158.34 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 95% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Pfizer's 401(k) match formula?
Pfizer's 401(k) employer match tops out at 4.5% of pay. The match is deposited quarterly. 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 3% of pay |
|---|---|
| then | 50% of the next 3% of pay |
| Maximum employer match | 4.5% of compensation |
| Deposited | Quarterly |
| Conditions | Participant contributions in excess of 6% are not matched; catch-up contributions are not matched; participants generally must be actively employed on the last business day of the quarter to receive the match (exceptions for retirement - at least age 62 with 5 years of service, age 55 with 10 years of service, or age 65 - death or disability) |
| Other employer contribution | Retirement Savings Contribution (RSC): additional annual Company-provided contribution based on age and years of service, deposited annually following the close of the plan year (approximately $342.3 million funded for plan year 2025) |
At a $90,000 salary, contributing 6% ($5,400) earns the full employer match of $4,050 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“For all participants, contributions of up to 3% of eligible compensation are matched 100% by the Company and the next 3% are matched 50% by the Company. Participant contributions in excess of 6% are not matched.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 16, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Pfizer's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Pfizer 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 | RSC is 100% vested after three years of credited service |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately 100% vested in their contributions and the Company matching contributions. However, for the RSC, participants are 100% vested after three years of credited service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 16, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Pfizer's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Pfizer enrolls new hires automatically at 6% of pay.
| Plan entry | Generally all U.S.-based employees on their date of hire |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement who have not negotiated to participate; employee groups not designated for participation; CBA groups with a negotiated different eligibility date; employees eligible for another Company-sponsored savings plan |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; 31-day opt-out window; default investment: Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA): Vanguard Target Retirement Fund based on the participant's year of birth |
Eligibility, word for word
“Generally, all U.S.-based employees of the Company are eligible to enroll in the Plan on their date of hire, except for certain employees who (i) are covered by a collective bargaining agreement and have not negotiated to participate in the Plan, (ii) are employed by an employee group not designated for participation in the Plan, (iii) are covered by a collective bargaining agreement and have negotiated a different eligibility date or (iv) are otherwise eligible for another Company-sponsored savings plan.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“Newly eligible participants who do not affirmatively enroll in the Plan within 31 days of hire or transfer into eligible employment are automatically enrolled at a 6% before-tax contribution rate. Contributions are invested in the Plan's QDIA fund based on the participant's year of birth.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 16, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who holds your account
Schedule C of the Form 5500 filed for plan year 2024 reports Fidelity Investments, filed as “FID INV INST OPS CO”. 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.
10,593 plans on file name Fidelity Investments as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 10,022 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $97.71 per participant.
Participants log in at Fidelity NetBenefits ↗. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Fidelity Investments or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Fidelity Investments |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 042647786 |
What does the Pfizer plan report on Form 5500?
The Pfizer plan reported $22.0B in assets and 59,490 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 | Pfizer Savings Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $21,987,152,800 |
| Participants | 59,490 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $158.34 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $158.34 per participant. The median across plans in pharmaceuticals and chemicals is $128.47, from the 870 of 942 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
Pfizer Savings Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Pfizer's 401(k) match compare?
Pfizer Inc.'s maximum 401(k) match of 4.5% 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 pharmaceuticals and chemicals, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Pfizer.
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 16, 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 Pfizer Inc.'s 401(k) match?
Pfizer Inc. matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 3% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4.5% of compensation (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Pfizer Inc. 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Pfizer Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; 31-day opt-out window; default investment: Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA): Vanguard Target Retirement Fund based on the participant's year of birth.
Who is the recordkeeper for Pfizer Inc.'s 401(k)?
Fidelity Investments is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Pfizer Savings 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 Pfizer 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 | Pfizer Inc. |
| SEC CIK | 78003 |
| Accession number | 0000078003-26-000078 |
| Plan | Pfizer Savings Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 16, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Pfizer 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, “Pfizer Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000078003-26-000078, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
