Publix Super Markets, Inc. 401(k) match: 1.5% of pay
Publix Super Markets, Inc. 401(k) SMART Plan · CIK 81061
Employer match stated in the filing, as a share of pay
1.5%
Publix Super Markets, Inc. discloses only part of its 401(k) match terms: it matches 50% of the first 3% of pay, capped at $750 a year.
From the Form 11-K filed June 18, 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 Publix Super Markets puts in, and what the plan costs
What Publix Super Markets put into the plan, per active participant
$239
Publix Super Markets, Inc. put $239 into this plan for each of its 209,120 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.
Publix Super Markets put in less per active participant than 88% of plans with 5,000+ participants in retail. The middle plan in that group of 196 reported $700. Retail comes from business code 445110, which Publix Super Markets 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 Publix Super Markets 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 590324412, plan 004 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $239 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Publix Super Markets, Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $743 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 Publix Super Markets puts in
$743
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The filing discloses only part of the formula. The most it states the employer adds is 1.5% of pay, for a worker contributing 3% of pay.
The match paragraph, word for word
“The Company may make a discretionary annual matching contribution to the accounts of eligible participants of the Plan as determined by the Company’s Board of Directors. During 2025 and 2024, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a match of 50% of an eligible participant’s annual contributions up to 3% of eligible annual compensation, not to exceed a maximum match of $750 per participant. The match is determined as of the last day of the Plan year and funded by the Company in the subsequent Plan year. The match was paid by the Company in cash and invested in accordance with eligible participants’ investment allocations at the time the match was funded.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 3% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $1,485 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
57.14 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 4% 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: 0%, 0%, 0%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their contributions and earnings thereon. Company matching contributions and earnings thereon are generally 100% vested upon completing three years of credited service, reaching age 60, total disability or death.”
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
8th percentile
$10.97 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 92% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Publix Super Markets' 401(k) match formula?
Publix Super Markets discloses only part of its 401(k) match terms: it matches 50% of the first 3% of pay. The match is deposited once a year. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 50% of the first 3% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 1.5% of compensation |
| Rate actually paid this plan yearAs reported in the filing. | For 2025 and 2024 the Board of Directors approved a match of 50% of an eligible participant's annual contributions up to 3% of eligible annual compensation, not to exceed a maximum match of $750 per participant |
| Deposited | Once a year |
| Paid in company stock | No, paid in cash or per your investment elections |
| Conditions | Match is discretionary, determined by the Board of Directors; capped at $750 per participant; determined as of the last day of the Plan year and funded by the Company in the subsequent Plan year |
What the filing says, word for word
“The Company may make a discretionary annual matching contribution to the accounts of eligible participants of the Plan as determined by the Company’s Board of Directors. During 2025 and 2024, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a match of 50% of an eligible participant’s annual contributions up to 3% of eligible annual compensation, not to exceed a maximum match of $750 per participant. The match is determined as of the last day of the Plan year and funded by the Company in the subsequent Plan year. The match was paid by the Company in cash and invested in accordance with eligible participants’ investment allocations at the time the match was funded.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Publix Super Markets' 401(k) vesting schedule?
Publix Super Markets vests the employer match on a cliff schedule: nothing is yours until three years of service, then 100% at once. Leave a day early and the employer money goes back to the plan, the edge a three-year cliff creates.
| Employer match vesting | Cliff: 100% vested after 3 years of service |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Accelerated vesting | 100% vested upon reaching age 60, total disability or death |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their contributions and earnings thereon. Company matching contributions and earnings thereon are generally 100% vested upon completing three years of credited service, reaching age 60, total disability or death.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Publix Super Markets' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Publix Super Markets' filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | Eligible to participate in the Plan six months after hire date, if at least 18 years of age |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“Employees of Publix Super Markets, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Publix Alabama, LLC, Publix Asset Management Company and Publix North Carolina Employee Services, LLC (the Company or Publix) are eligible to participate in the Plan six months after their hire date, if they are at least 18 years of age.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Publix Super Markets plan report on Form 5500?
The Publix Super Markets plan reported $8.1B in assets and 225,961 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 | Publix Super Markets, Inc. 401(k) Smart Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $8,068,866,271 |
| Participants | 225,961 |
| Recordkeeper | Voya |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $10.97 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $10.97 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 Voya as its recordkeeper, one of 915 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 912 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $96.20 per participant.
Publix Super Markets, Inc. 401(k) Smart Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Publix Super Markets' 401(k) match compare?
Publix Super Markets, Inc.'s maximum 401(k) match of 1.5% 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.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Voya.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Voya.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same 3-year cliff as Publix Super Markets.
Compare Publix Super Markets, Inc. with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Voya ↗, the recordkeeper this plan reports.
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 18, 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 Publix Super Markets, Inc.'s 401(k) match?
Publix Super Markets, Inc. discloses only part of its match terms in the 11-K for the plan year ended December 31, 2025; it matches 50% of employee contributions up to 3% of eligible pay.
When does the Publix Super Markets, Inc. 401(k) match vest?
Cliff: 100% vested after 3 years of service.
Does Publix Super Markets, Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Publix Super Markets, Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000081061-26-000072, plan year ended 2025-12-31.