Roth IRA Calculator: Growth, Eligibility, Conversion, Rollover, Withdrawals & Excess Contributions
Model how a Roth IRA could grow when funded with after-tax dollars, then jump to the eligibility, comparison, conversion, rollover, withdrawal and excess-contribution tools — all on one page and all held to the 2026 tax year.
Roth IRA growth calculator
Project a Roth IRA to your retirement age from a starting balance and a regular contribution. Pick a fixed amount, the 2026 maximum, or the amount needed to reach a target — returns are a planning assumption, not a forecast.
Mode: Fixed contribution. Returns are a planning assumption, not a forecast.
Balance by year
Contributions vs earnings
Nominal vs real
| Year | Age | Contribution | Contributions to date | Earnings | Balance | Today’s $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 | $6,000 | $6,000 | $643 | $14,643 | $14,286 |
| 2 | 37 | $6,000 | $12,000 | $1,685 | $21,685 | $20,640 |
| 3 | 38 | $6,000 | $18,000 | $3,149 | $29,149 | $27,068 |
| 4 | 39 | $6,000 | $24,000 | $5,062 | $37,062 | $33,576 |
| 5 | 40 | $6,000 | $30,000 | $7,449 | $45,449 | $40,170 |
| 6 | 41 | $6,000 | $36,000 | $10,339 | $54,339 | $46,856 |
| 7 | 42 | $6,000 | $42,000 | $13,762 | $63,762 | $53,641 |
| 8 | 43 | $6,000 | $48,000 | $17,751 | $73,751 | $60,531 |
| 9 | 44 | $6,000 | $54,000 | $22,340 | $84,340 | $67,533 |
| 10 | 45 | $6,000 | $60,000 | $27,564 | $95,564 | $74,654 |
| 11 | 46 | $6,000 | $66,000 | $33,461 | $107,461 | $81,901 |
| 12 | 47 | $6,000 | $72,000 | $40,071 | $120,071 | $89,280 |
| 13 | 48 | $6,000 | $78,000 | $47,439 | $133,439 | $96,799 |
| 14 | 49 | $6,000 | $84,000 | $55,609 | $147,609 | $104,467 |
| 15 | 50 | $6,000 | $90,000 | $64,628 | $162,628 | $112,289 |
| 16 | 51 | $6,000 | $96,000 | $74,549 | $178,549 | $120,275 |
| 17 | 52 | $6,000 | $102,000 | $85,426 | $195,426 | $128,433 |
| 18 | 53 | $6,000 | $108,000 | $97,314 | $213,314 | $136,770 |
| 19 | 54 | $6,000 | $114,000 | $110,277 | $232,277 | $145,295 |
| 20 | 55 | $6,000 | $120,000 | $124,376 | $252,376 | $154,018 |
| 21 | 56 | $6,000 | $126,000 | $139,682 | $273,682 | $162,947 |
| 22 | 57 | $6,000 | $132,000 | $156,266 | $296,266 | $172,091 |
| 23 | 58 | $6,000 | $138,000 | $174,206 | $320,206 | $181,460 |
| 24 | 59 | $6,000 | $144,000 | $193,581 | $345,581 | $191,063 |
| 25 | 60 | $6,000 | $150,000 | $214,479 | $372,479 | $200,912 |
| 26 | 61 | $6,000 | $156,000 | $236,991 | $400,991 | $211,016 |
| 27 | 62 | $6,000 | $162,000 | $261,214 | $431,214 | $221,385 |
| 28 | 63 | $6,000 | $168,000 | $287,250 | $463,250 | $232,032 |
| 29 | 64 | $6,000 | $174,000 | $315,209 | $497,209 | $242,967 |
| 30 | 65 | $6,000 | $180,000 | $345,204 | $533,204 | $254,201 |
Assumptions: monthly (or annual) compounding net of fees; contributions capped at the 2026 age-based IRA limit; the age-50 catch-up switches on at 50; the maximum-contribution mode holds the 2026 limit constant. Educational estimate, not investment or tax advice.
Roth vs Traditional / pre-tax
Compare a Roth against a pre-tax IRA, 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b) or TSP starting from the same pre-tax budget. The tool reports a break-even retirement tax rate rather than naming a winner.
After-tax spendable wealth
- Both routes start from the same pre-tax budget. A fair comparison reinvests the pre-tax tax saving in a taxable side account — turn that on for the meaningful result.
- This uses the plan’s employee deferral limit; employer contributions and total additions have separate limits shown in the plan rules.
Assumptions: equal pre-tax budget; contribution capped at the plan employee-deferral limit; employer match grows in a pre-tax bucket; the pre-tax route can reinvest its current-year tax saving in a taxable side account. Educational estimate, not tax advice.
Roth IRA eligibility worksheet
Check whether you can contribute to a Roth IRA in 2026 and how much, using the Publication 590-A reduced-contribution worksheet.
- You requested $3,500 more than the allowed direct Roth amount; contributing it would create an excess contribution — see the excess-contribution module.
- Your MAGI is inside the phase-out range, so the maximum is reduced and rounded up to the next $10 with a $200 minimum, per Publication 590-A.
Assumptions: single-person worksheet on your taxable compensation and Roth MAGI; the Roth and Traditional IRA share one combined annual limit. Educational estimate, not tax advice.
Roth conversion calculator
Estimate the pro-rata taxable amount, federal and state tax, and the convert-versus-retain outcome for a Roth conversion. The pro-rata denominator aggregates Traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRA balances.
Convert vs retain
| Year | Converted | Taxable | Nontaxable | Federal tax | State tax | Remaining Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | $45,000 | $5,000 | $10,800 | $2,250 | $50,000 |
- The pro-rata rule aggregates all Traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRA balances; you cannot isolate after-tax basis for conversion.
- The conversion adds $45,000 to your taxable income this year, which can push part of it into a higher bracket.
Assumptions: pro-rata across all non-Roth IRA balances; bracket-aware federal tax uses the 2026 brackets for your filing status; state tax uses your entered marginal rate. Educational estimate, not tax advice.
IRA and Roth rollover
Classify a rollover between IRAs and employer plans, separating a tax-free rollover from a taxable Roth conversion, and show withholding and the amount that must be replaced within 60 days.
- A 60-day rollover withholds tax; to roll the full amount you must replace the withheld portion from other funds within 60 days.
- Moving pre-tax money into a Roth is a taxable conversion, not a tax-free rollover — the pre-tax amount is added to income this year.
Assumptions: a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer has no withholding; a 60-day rollover withholds at your entered rate. Educational estimate, not tax advice.
IRA withdrawal and payout
Model a one-time withdrawal under the Roth ordering rules, or a monthly retirement payout that depletes the account over time.
- Roth withdrawals follow the order: contributions, then conversions, then earnings — the cleanest dollars come out first.
- Earnings are being withdrawn before the distribution is qualified, so they are taxable and may carry the 10% additional tax.
Assumptions: Roth withdrawals follow contributions → conversions → earnings; the 10% additional tax applies to non-qualified earnings and to conversions within five years when under 59½. Educational estimate, not tax advice.
Excess Roth IRA contribution
Compute the net income attributable (NIA) on an excess Roth contribution and the corrective distribution using the IRS Publication 590-A / §1.408-11 worksheet.
NIA = 400 x (18000 - 20000) / 20000 = -$40.00
- Removing the excess plus its net income attributable by your filing deadline (with extensions) generally avoids the 6% excise tax. This is the IRS Publication 590-A / §1.408-11 worksheet — confirm your figures with a tax professional.
Assumptions: single computation period; adjusted opening balance includes contributions/transfers in, adjusted closing balance includes distributions/transfers out. Educational estimate, not tax advice.
What is a Roth IRA?
A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account funded with money that has already been taxed. In exchange for no upfront deduction, qualified withdrawals — your contributions and their growth — are entirely tax-free. Project one here.
Does a Roth IRA earn interest?
A Roth IRA is a container, not an investment. It earns whatever the investments inside it earn — interest on cash or bonds, and gains or losses on funds and stocks. The growth module lets you set the return you expect. Try it.
Does a Roth IRA have compound interest?
Yes — reinvested earnings themselves earn returns, which is why the projected balance curves upward over time. See the compounding curve.
Maxing out a Roth IRA for 20 years
Contributing the 2026 maximum every year for two decades is one of the presets in the growth module; it holds the 2026 limit constant rather than assuming future IRS increases. Load the “Max out for 20 years” preset.
Investing $100 a month for 30 years
A small, steady contribution compounds into a meaningful balance over 30 years. Load the “$100/month for 30 years” preset to see the split between contributions and tax-free growth. Open the preset.
Starting a Roth IRA at 30
Starting earlier gives compounding more time to work. The “Start at age 30” and “Start at age 40” presets show the difference. Compare start ages.
One page, six Roth IRA decisions
This page keeps a single canonical URL and answers several related questions in separate on-page modules: how a Roth IRA grows, whether you can contribute, how a Roth compares with a pre-tax plan, what a conversion would cost, how a rollover is classified, and how withdrawals or an excess contribution are handled.
Each module is reached through the intent selector and the sticky navigation at the top of the page, and each recomputes live from the same engine, so the numbers you see in the tools and the worked tables always agree.
The whole page is held to the 2026 tax year. Contribution limits, phase-out ranges, plan deferral limits and federal brackets come from versioned datasets, not from the wording on the page, so a change to a dataset flows straight through to every result.
Eligibility versus the amount you can contribute
Eligibility to contribute to a Roth IRA depends on having taxable compensation and on your modified adjusted gross income relative to the phase-out range for your filing status. Inside the range the maximum is reduced with the Publication 590-A worksheet, rounded up to the next $10 with a $200 minimum.
The Roth and Traditional IRA share one combined annual limit, so contributions already made to a Traditional IRA reduce what remains for the Roth. The eligibility module tracks the age-based limit, the compensation limit, the phase-out reduction and the remaining combined capacity separately.
Because the figures come from the 2026 datasets, the module reports the current phase-out band and the reduced maximum without any dollar amount being hard-coded into this text.
Returns are planning assumptions
The growth module defaults to a 6% central planning return and offers 4%, 6% and 8% presets. None of these is labelled an ‘average Roth IRA rate’, and none is derived automatically from historical stock-market returns; they are illustrative planning inputs you should adjust to your own portfolio.
Fees reduce the compounding rate, inflation is applied to produce a value in today’s dollars, and the projection holds the 2026 contribution limit constant in the maximum-contribution mode rather than inventing future IRS increases.
Every projection is an educational estimate. Actual returns vary year to year and can be negative; the calculator never presents a return as guaranteed.
2026 contribution and income rules
For 2026 the Roth and Traditional IRA share one combined annual limit; the direct Roth contribution phases out over an income range that depends on filing status. The figures below are read from the 2026 datasets, so they update with the datasets rather than with this text. Check your own eligibility.
| Figure (2026) | Amount |
|---|---|
| IRA contribution limit (under 50) | $7,500 |
| IRA limit with age-50 catch-up | $8,600 |
| Roth phase-out — Single/HoH | $153,000 – $168,000 |
| Roth phase-out — Married filing jointly | $242,000 – $252,000 |
| Roth phase-out — MFS (lived together) | $0 – $10,000 |
| Workplace-plan employee deferral limit | $24,500 |
Roth IRA withdrawal rules
Withdrawals come out in a fixed order — regular contributions first, then conversions, then earnings — which works in your favour because the cleanest dollars leave first. Contributions are always tax- and penalty-free. Earnings are tax-free only in a qualified distribution: the account has met the 5-year holding period and you are at least 59.5. Otherwise earnings are taxable and may carry the 10% additional tax. Model a withdrawal.
Roth IRA rules in California
California generally conforms to the federal Roth IRA treatment: contributions are not deductible, qualified distributions are excluded from California taxable income, and the taxable portion of a conversion is included in California income in the same year it is included federally. California has no separate Roth contribution limit or income phase-out.
The one meaningful difference for early distributions is an additional California tax of 2.5% on distributions that also trigger the federal 10% additional tax. Enter your California marginal rate in the conversion and withdrawal modules rather than relying on a built-in state engine — this page does not model California brackets.
Average Roth IRA balance by age
A meaningful benchmark must be Roth-only (not a blended all-IRA figure), state its provider and date, define its sample, and distinguish the average from the median. We do not yet have a verified Roth-only series that meets that bar, so the comparison below shows the structure without publishing unverified balances. Use the growth module to project your own trajectory.
| Age band | Average (Roth-only) | Median (Roth-only) |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25 | pending verified source | pending verified source |
| 25-34 | pending verified source | pending verified source |
| 35-44 | pending verified source | pending verified source |
| 45-54 | pending verified source | pending verified source |
| 55-64 | pending verified source | pending verified source |
| 65-74 | pending verified source | pending verified source |
| 75+ | pending verified source | pending verified source |
All-IRA aggregates (mixing Roth and Traditional) must never be presented as a national Roth-only average. Averages are pulled upward by a small number of very large accounts; medians are more representative of a typical saver.
Formula and methodology
FV = P(1+r)ⁿ + PMT · [((1+r)ⁿ − 1) / r]P = starting balance; PMT = per-period contribution; r = periodic return net of fees; n = number of periods.
FV = P(1+r)ⁿ + PMT · [((1+r)ⁿ − 1) / r] · (1+r)Same symbols; each contribution earns one extra period of growth.
FV_real = FV / (1+i)ⁿi = annual inflation; FV_real is expressed in today's dollars.
Roth = C·g + M·g·(1−t_ret); Pre-tax = (C+M)·g·(1−t_ret) + SC = contribution; M = employer match; g = growth factor; t_ret = retirement tax rate; S = reinvested tax-saving side account.
nontaxable ratio = basis / (Traditional + SEP + SIMPLE); taxable = conversion · (1 − ratio)Basis and balances are aggregated across all non-Roth IRAs.
NIA = excess · (ACB − AOB) / AOBAOB = adjusted opening balance (opening + contributions/transfers in); ACB = adjusted closing balance (closing + distributions/transfers out).
Frequently asked questions
How is a Roth IRA taxed?
You contribute money that has already been taxed. Your own contributions can be withdrawn at any time tax- and penalty-free, and the earnings come out tax-free once the account has met the five-year holding period and you are at least 59½.
What are the 2026 contribution and income limits?
The 2026 age-based IRA limit and the Roth income phase-out ranges are loaded from IRS datasets and shown live in the eligibility module and the rules table on this page, so the figures update when the datasets update rather than being written into the text.
Can high earners still fund a Roth?
Direct contributions phase out above an income range set by the IRS. Above it, some savers use a backdoor Roth conversion; the conversion module estimates the pro-rata taxable amount. Whether that is appropriate depends on your existing pre-tax IRA balances and tax situation.
Roth or a pre-tax account — how do I compare them?
The comparison module starts both routes from the same pre-tax budget, prepays tax on the Roth, defers it on the pre-tax account, and can reinvest the pre-tax tax saving in a taxable side account. It reports the break-even retirement tax rate rather than declaring a winner.
Can I withdraw money before retirement?
Contributions can be withdrawn any time. Conversions and earnings follow ordering rules and can trigger income tax and a 10% additional tax if withdrawn early and not qualified. The withdrawal module applies the contributions → conversions → earnings order.
Data sources, review status and version history
- U.S. Internal Revenue Service — Traditional IRA contribution limit, catch-up, and deduction phase-out ranges for tax year … · effective November 13, 2025 · retrieved July 13, 2026
- U.S. Internal Revenue Service — Roth IRA direct contribution phase-out ranges for tax year 2026 — Single/HoH/MFS-apart $15… · effective November 13, 2025 · retrieved July 24, 2026 · pending editorial verification
- U.S. Internal Revenue Service — Employee elective deferral limit, age-50 catch-up, SECURE 2.0 ages 60-63 higher catch-up, … · effective November 13, 2025 · retrieved July 24, 2026 · pending editorial verification
- U.S. Internal Revenue Service — U.S. federal individual income tax brackets by filing status for tax years 2025 and 2026, … · effective January 1, 2026 · retrieved July 29, 2026
- U.S. Internal Revenue Service — Roth IRA distribution ordering rules, the additional 10% early-distribution tax under IRC … · effective January 1, 2026 · retrieved July 24, 2026 · pending editorial verification
- California Franchise Tax Board — California personal income tax treatment of Roth IRA contributions, conversions and qualif… · effective January 1, 2026 · retrieved July 24, 2026 · pending editorial verification
- CalcDomain editorial (pending primary-source verification) — Placeholder benchmark structure for average and median Roth IRA account balances by age ba… · effective July 24, 2026 · retrieved July 24, 2026 · pending editorial verification
Version history
- 2.0.0 · August 3, 2026 — Rebuilt as a multi-intent Roth IRA decision page: growth, eligibility, Roth-vs-pre-tax, conversion, rollover, withdrawal/payout and excess-contribution modules on one canonical URL, all driven by 2026 datasets.
- 1.0.0 · May 17, 2026 — Original generic Roth IRA compound-interest growth calculator.
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Evidence, sources and editorial review
Roth IRA Calculator: Growth, Eligibility, Conversion, Rollover, Withdrawals & Excess Contributions groups its evidence and methodology review here so sources, assumptions and responsibility can be checked together.
References & authoritative sources
- IRS — IR-2025-111 — 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026; IRA limit increases to $7,500 · consulted August 1, 2026 · 2026 contribution and catch-up limits
- IRS — Notice 2025-67 — 2026 cost-of-living adjustments for pension and retirement plans · consulted August 1, 2026 · 2026 Roth IRA phase-out ranges and plan deferral limits
- IRS Publication 590-A — Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements — eligibility and reduced-contribution worksheet · consulted August 1, 2026 · Reduced Roth contribution worksheet and net income attributable
- IRS Publication 590-B — Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements — ordering and qualified distributions · consulted August 1, 2026 · Roth ordering rules, five-year clock and the 10% additional tax
- Internal Revenue Code — Section 408A — Statutory basis for Roth IRAs · consulted August 1, 2026 · Roth IRA framework, contribution and conversion provisions
Methodology & review
Engine version: 1.0.0 · Last updated: · Tax year: 2026
Data status: the 2026 figures come from official IRS and agency sources and pass automated checks, but some datasets are still awaiting human editorial sign-off — treat those figures as provisional. This tool is educational and not tax advice.
One deterministic engine backs six modules on this page: growth projection, the Publication 590-A eligibility worksheet, an equal-pre-tax-budget Roth-vs-pre-tax comparison, a pro-rata conversion estimator, a rollover classifier and the net-income-attributable excess-contribution worksheet. Every IRS and plan figure is loaded from versioned 2026 datasets; no limit, phase-out or bracket is written into the page copy. Growth compounds each period net of fees; returns are planning assumptions, not forecasts. Educational estimates, not tax or investment advice.
Assumptions & limitations — an educational estimate, not tax or investment advice:
- Every IRS and plan figure is loaded from versioned 2026 datasets; the 2026 amounts are held constant and future IRS increases are not projected.
- Returns are planning assumptions, not forecasts, and are never derived automatically from historical stock-market returns.
- The comparison, conversion and withdrawal modules use marginal-rate assumptions you enter; they do not run full federal or state returns.
- The pro-rata conversion estimate aggregates Traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRA balances and must be confirmed on Form 8606.
- California treatment is limited to conformity and the early-distribution add-on; no California brackets are modelled.
Reviewed according to the CalcDomain Editorial Policy & Calculator Methodology. We document formulas, edge cases, sources, update dates, and correction paths for calculator pages.
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