Valero Energy Corporation 401(k) match: 7% max
Valero Energy Corporation Thrift Plan · VLO · CIK 1035002
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
7%
Valero Energy Corporation matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 7% of pay.
Valero Energy 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 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 · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What Valero Energy puts in, and what the plan costs
What Valero Energy put into the plan, per active participant
$9,458
Valero Energy Corporation put $9,458 into this plan for each of its 7,722 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.
Valero Energy put in more per active participant than 70% of plans with 5,000+ participants in oil, gas and mining. The middle plan in that group of 31 reported $7,448. Oil, gas and mining comes from business code 324110, which Valero Energy 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 Valero Energy 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 741828067, plan 002 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $9,458 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Valero Energy Corporation also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $3,465 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 Valero Energy puts in
$3,465
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Valero makes an employer contribution equal to $1.00 for every $1.00 of a participant’s contributions up to 7 percent of annual total salary. All employer contributions are made in cash and are invested according to the investment options elected for the participant contributions.”
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
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
“Participants are vested 100 percent in their individual participant contribution accounts at all times. Participants who are active employees and are not renewables organization employees are 100 percent vested in their employer matching contribution accounts at all times. Renewables organization employees vest in their employer matching contribution accounts at the rate of 20 percent per year and are 100 percent vested after five years of continuous service. Eligible renewables organization employees vest 100 percent in any discretionary employer contributions after completion of three years of 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
Not reported
The Form 5500 filing does not report the plan-paid administrative expenses this figure needs.
What is Valero Energy's 401(k) match formula?
Valero Energy's 401(k) employer match tops out at 7% of pay. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 7% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 7% of compensation |
| Paid in company stock | No, paid in cash or per your investment elections |
| Other employer contribution | Discretionary employer contribution for eligible ethanol plant (renewables organization) employees, allocated based on eligible compensation; $2.3 million approved for plan year 2025 |
At a $75,000 salary, contributing 7% ($5,250) earns the full employer match of $5,250 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“Valero makes an employer contribution equal to $1.00 for every $1.00 of a participant’s contributions up to 7 percent of annual total salary. All employer contributions are made in cash and are invested according to the investment options elected for the participant contributions.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Valero Energy's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Valero Energy 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 | Renewables organization employees vest in employer matching contributions at 20% per year (100% after five years of continuous service) and vest 100% in discretionary employer contributions after three years of service |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are vested 100 percent in their individual participant contribution accounts at all times. Participants who are active employees and are not renewables organization employees are 100 percent vested in their employer matching contribution accounts at all times. Renewables organization employees vest in their employer matching contribution accounts at the rate of 20 percent per year and are 100 percent vested after five years of continuous service. Eligible renewables organization employees vest 100 percent in any discretionary employer contributions after completion of three years of service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Valero Energy's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Valero Energy enrolls new hires automatically at 7% of pay, rising 1% a year to 10% of pay.
| Plan entry | U.S. employees are immediately eligible to participate |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | Certain employees at the Port Arthur and Memphis Refineries, who are only eligible for the Premcor Retirement Savings Plan |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 7% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10% |
Eligibility, word for word
“Valero’s U.S. employees, as described in the plan document, are immediately eligible to participate in the Plan, except for certain employees at Valero’s Port Arthur and Memphis Refineries who are only eligible to participate in the Premcor Retirement Savings Plan, another plan sponsored by Valero.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“Eligible employees are automatically enrolled in the Plan at a pre-tax contribution rate of 7 percent of their annual total salary, unless the eligible employee elects not to participate in the Plan. The automatically enrolled participant’s contribution rate will increase by 1 percent per year until a maximum contribution rate of 10 percent is reached, unless the participant elects to opt out of the automatic increases or voluntarily changes their contribution rate.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Valero Energy plan report on Form 5500?
The Valero Energy plan reported $3.4B in assets and 10,238 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $3,387,314,215 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 10,238 |
| Recordkeeper | Bank Of America, N.A. (Trustee); Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (Recordkeeper) |
How that cost compares
It is one of 653 plans in oil, gas and mining in the Form 5500 data we publish.
Valero Energy Corporation Thrift Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Valero Energy's 401(k) match compare?
Valero Energy Corporation's maximum 401(k) match of 7% 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 oil, gas and mining, two land near Valero Energy's maximum match and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 7% of pay. Also in oil, gas and mining.
Maximum match 7.02% of pay. Also in oil, gas and mining.
Maximum match 7% of pay. Also in oil, gas and mining.
Maximum match 7% of pay, level with Valero Energy.
Maximum match 7.5% of pay, 0.5 points above Valero Energy.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Valero Energy.
Compare Valero Energy Corporation with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Merrill Benefits OnLine ↗, the recordkeeper this plan reports.
- 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.
- Download this data (CSV)
Formula, vesting and source references for this company, one file.
Questions this filing answers
What is Valero Energy Corporation's 401(k) match?
Valero Energy Corporation matches 100% of employee contributions up to 7% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Valero Energy Corporation 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Valero Energy Corporation's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 7% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%.
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Valero Energy Corporation 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001628280-26-045615, plan year ended 2025-12-31.