Stanley Black & Decker 401(k) match: 3.5% max
Stanley Black & Decker Retirement Account Plan · SWK · CIK 93556
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
3.5%
Stanley Black & Decker matches 50% of the first 7% 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 Stanley Black & Decker puts in, and what the plan costs
What Stanley Black & Decker put into the plan, per active participant
$2,171
Stanley Black & Decker put $2,171 into this plan for each of its 16,084 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.
Stanley Black & Decker put in less per active participant than 81% 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 Stanley Black & Decker 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 Stanley Black & Decker 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 060548860, plan 009 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $2,171 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Stanley Black & Decker 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 Stanley Black & Decker puts in
$1,733
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“A participant’s Choice Account is automatically credited with matching allocations with respect to a payroll cycle equal to 50% of the participant’s pre-tax and/or Roth contributions for the payroll cycle credited to such account, taking into account only pre-tax and Roth contributions that, when combined, do not exceed 7% of compensation for the payroll cycle. Therefore, the maximum matching allocation with respect to a participant’s pre-tax and Roth contributions combined for a payroll cycle is 3.5% of the participant’s compensation for such payroll cycle with certain exceptions to this limit specified in the Plan document. “Catch-up” contributions are not eligible for matching allocations.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 7% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $3,465 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
Not scored
The filing states a cliff but not how many years it runs.
A schedule this cannot read at whole-year anniversaries is left without a number rather than given a middle one.
The filing states a cliff but not how many years it runs.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are fully vested in their own contributions and earnings thereon and amounts transferred or rolled over from other qualified plans on their behalf. Participants are vested in their matching allocations and Core Account allocations based on their number of years of service. Generally, allocations vest 100% after three or five years of service, with different vesting schedules applicable depending on the participant’s dates of employment.”
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
67th percentile
$74.15 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 67% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Stanley Black & Decker's 401(k) match formula?
Stanley Black & Decker's 401(k) employer match tops out at 3.5% of pay. The match is deposited each payroll. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 50% of the first 7% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 3.5% of compensation |
| Deposited | Each payroll |
| Conditions | Only pre-tax and Roth contributions are matched; catch-up contributions are not eligible for matching allocations; certain exceptions to the 3.5% limit are specified in the Plan document |
| Other employer contribution | Core Account allocations of 2%, 4% or 6% of eligible pay depending on the participant's age on December 31 of the allocation year, determined each calendar quarter; the participant must be employed on the last day of the calendar quarter and not be in an excluded classification |
At a $45,000 salary, contributing 7% ($3,150) earns the full employer match of $1,575 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“A participant’s Choice Account is automatically credited with matching allocations with respect to a payroll cycle equal to 50% of the participant’s pre-tax and/or Roth contributions for the payroll cycle credited to such account, taking into account only pre-tax and Roth contributions that, when combined, do not exceed 7% of compensation for the payroll cycle. Therefore, the maximum matching allocation with respect to a participant’s pre-tax and Roth contributions combined for a payroll cycle is 3.5% of the participant’s compensation for such payroll cycle with certain exceptions to this limit specified in the Plan document. “Catch-up” contributions are not eligible for matching allocations.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What is Stanley Black & Decker's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Stanley Black & Decker vests the employer match on a cliff schedule; the filing does not state how many years of service it takes. Leave a day early and the employer money goes back to the plan, the edge a cliff schedule creates.
| Employer match vesting | Cliff: 100% vested after ? years of service |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Year of service | Allocations generally vest 100% after three or five years of service, with different vesting schedules applicable depending on the participant's dates of employment |
| Accelerated vesting | Upon termination of the Plan, the interest of each participant becomes vested; certain participants transferred in connection with a corporate transaction may be 100% vested |
| Other employer contributions | Core Account allocations vest on the same service-based basis as matching allocations, generally 100% after three or five years of service |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are fully vested in their own contributions and earnings thereon and amounts transferred or rolled over from other qualified plans on their behalf. Participants are vested in their matching allocations and Core Account allocations based on their number of years of service. Generally, allocations vest 100% after three or five years of service, with different vesting schedules applicable depending on the participant’s dates of employment.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Stanley Black & Decker's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Stanley Black & Decker enrolls new hires automatically; the filing does not state the default deferral rate.
| Plan entry | Generally, all U.S. salaried and hourly paid employees of Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. and its U.S. affiliates are eligible; certain employees described in the Plan document are not eligible |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | Certain employees, as described in the Plan document, are not eligible to participate |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: |
Eligibility, word for word
“The Plan is a defined contribution plan for eligible United States salaried and hourly paid employees of Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. and its U.S. affiliates (the “Company”). Generally, all U.S. employees of the Company are eligible to participate in the Plan. Certain employees, as described in the Plan document, are not eligible to participate in the Plan.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“The Plan includes an automatic enrollment feature for eligible hired employees, with certain exceptions.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Stanley Black & Decker plan report on Form 5500?
The Stanley Black & Decker plan reported $2.5B in assets and 31,193 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 | Stanley Black & Decker Retirement Account Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $2,467,327,986 |
| Participants | 31,193 |
| Recordkeeper | Principal |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $74.15 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $74.15 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 Principal as its recordkeeper, one of 5,239 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 5,230 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $170.05 per participant.
How does Stanley Black & Decker's 401(k) match compare?
Stanley Black & Decker'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 in medical devices and other manufacturing, two report the same recordkeeper and one lands near Stanley Black & Decker's maximum match.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in medical devices and other manufacturing.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in medical devices and other manufacturing.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in medical devices and other manufacturing.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 3.75% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay, level with Stanley Black & Decker.
Compare Stanley Black & Decker with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Principal ↗, 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 Stanley Black & Decker's 401(k) match?
Stanley Black & Decker matches 50% of employee contributions up to 7% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Stanley Black & Decker 401(k) match vest?
Cliff: 100% vested after ? years of service.
Does Stanley Black & Decker's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: .
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Stanley Black & Decker 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000093556-26-000023, plan year ended 2025-12-31.