Roth vs traditional IRA growth after tax, with your 2026 limit and income phase-outs
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 6 Oct 2026.The 2026 IRA limit is $7,500, or $8,600 at 50 or over. Saving $7,500 a year from 35 to 65 at 6% grows to $628,512.58 in either IRA; at a 22% tax rate now and later, the Roth leaves $19,530.01 more after tax than a traditional IRA with its tax saving invested.
2026 · Rates and rules read from the sources listed on this page (the earliest on 6 Oct 2026); they may have changed since.
Pick your filing status and say whether you, or your spouse, are covered by a workplace retirement plan.
Enter your modified AGI and your pay; the 2026 Roth limit and deductible amount appear at once.
Enter your age, retirement age, yearly contribution and expected return.
Set your tax rate now and the rate you expect in retirement.
Read which IRA leaves more after tax, and the year-by-year balances below.
This calculator does two jobs. It works out how much you may put in a Roth IRA and how much of a traditional IRA contribution you may deduct for 2026, from your filing status, income and workplace-plan coverage. Then it grows the same contribution in each kind of IRA to retirement and compares what is left after tax.
The 2026 limits. IRS release IR-2025-111 sets the IRA limit at $7,500, plus a $1,100 catch-up from age 50. The Roth limit phases out between $153,000 and $168,000 of modified AGI for single and head-of-household filers, $242,000 to $252,000 for joint filers, and $0 to $10,000 for married people filing separately. The traditional deduction is limited only if you or your spouse are covered by a workplace plan: $81,000 to $91,000 single, $129,000 to $149,000 joint when you are covered, $242,000 to $252,000 when only your spouse is.
How the phase-out is worked. Under 26 U.S.C. 219(g)(2) and 408A(c)(3), the limit is cut in proportion to how far your income is into the range. The cut is rounded down to the next $10, and a limit is never cut below $200 unless it reaches zero. Married filing separately and not living together at any time in the year counts as single.
Roth or traditional. A traditional IRA saves tax now and is taxed on withdrawal; a Roth is the reverse. With the same rate now and later they come out close: the traditional side's tax saving, if invested, is taxed again on its gains, which is why the Roth edges ahead. A lower rate in retirement favours the traditional IRA; a higher one favours the Roth.
What it does not do. Later years keep the 2026 limit, the contribution is the same each year, and state tax, the saver's credit, required minimum distributions and early-withdrawal penalties are left out. Each column assumes the whole contribution goes to that kind of IRA. For moving money from a traditional IRA to a Roth, use the Roth Conversion Calculator.
The limit for 2026 is $7,500 across all your traditional and Roth IRAs together, up from $7,000 in 2025, under IRS release IR-2025-111. Savers aged 50 or over may add a $1,100 catch-up, for $8,600 in all. Contributions also cannot exceed your taxable pay for the year.
Single and head-of-household filers can contribute the full amount with modified AGI below $153,000, a reduced amount up to $168,000, and nothing above. Joint filers phase out between $242,000 and $252,000. Married people filing separately who lived together phase out between $0 and $10,000.
Being covered by a 401(k) or other workplace plan limits the deduction by income. For 2026 a covered single filer deducts the full amount below $81,000 of modified AGI, part of it up to $91,000, and none above. Covered joint filers phase out between $129,000 and $149,000. Without a workplace plan, any income can deduct the full amount.
The limit is cut in proportion to how far income sits inside the range. A single filer with $160,000 is 7,000 into a 15,000 range, so the $7,500 limit is cut by 46.7% to $4,000. The cut is rounded down to $10, and any limit left is at least $200, under 26 U.S.C. 219(g)(2).
The answer turns on your tax rate now against your rate in retirement. With 22% both times, $7,500 a year for 30 years at 6% leaves the Roth $19,530.01 ahead, because the traditional side's invested tax saving is taxed again. At 32% now and 12% later, the traditional IRA comes out $52,198.53 ahead instead.
Anyone with taxable pay can still make a non-deductible traditional IRA contribution, whatever their income, and may then convert it to a Roth. That two-step route is called a backdoor Roth, and the pro-rata rule decides how much of a conversion is taxed. The Backdoor Roth Pro-Rata Calculator and Roth Conversion Calculator work through both.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
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