Roth IRA Calculator

A Roth IRA is one of the most powerful retirement accounts available because qualified withdrawals are completely tax-free. Here is what that looks like in practice: a 30-year-old with a $10,000 balance who contributes the 2025 maximum of $7,000 per year at a 7% average annual return would reach about $1,142,000 by age 65. Of that, roughly $245,000 is contributions and about $887,000 is growth you never pay federal income tax on. That tax-free compounding is the whole point of a Roth. All figures here are for tax year 2025.

How the projection is calculated

Each year the calculator adds your contribution (capped at the IRS limit), then grows the entire balance by your expected return:

where r is your expected annual return as a decimal (7% = 0.07), repeated for every year from your current age to retirement. Because contributions are capped, the calculator applies the correct 2025 limit based on your age in each year. This is the same year-over-year compounding engine behind our Compound Interest Calculator - the Roth version simply layers the IRS contribution caps and the tax-free treatment on top.

2025 contribution limits

The IRS sets how much you can put into all your IRAs combined each year. For 2025:

This is a combined limit across your Roth and traditional IRAs - you cannot put $7,000 in each. For comparison, the 2025 401(k) employee limit is $23,500 ($31,000 with the age-50 catch-up), so many savers use both. To model the workplace side of that plan - including an employer match, which a Roth IRA never has - run the numbers through our 401(k) Calculator.

Why tax-free growth matters

In a taxable brokerage account, dividends and realized gains are taxed every year, and long-term capital gains are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% in 2025 depending on income. Inside a Roth IRA, none of that applies. The full $887,000 of growth in the example above stays in your pocket - in a taxable account, decades of taxes could shave off six figures. Roth IRAs also have no required minimum distributions for the original owner, so the money can keep compounding.

Watch the income eligibility limits

Not everyone can contribute directly to a Roth IRA. The ability to contribute phases out at higher modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and disappears entirely above the IRS thresholds for your filing status. High earners often use a "backdoor" Roth conversion instead. This calculator assumes you are eligible - always confirm the current limits at irs.gov before contributing.

How to use this calculator

You only need four inputs to get a realistic projection. Work through the fields in order:

1. Current age and retirement age: these set how many years of compounding the projection runs. The earlier you start, the more dramatic the tax-free growth.
2. Starting balance: enter what you already have in the Roth IRA today, or leave it at zero if you are just opening one.
3. Annual contribution: type how much you plan to add each year. The calculator caps this at the 2025 IRS limit ($7,000, or $8,000 once you reach 50), so you cannot accidentally model an illegal over-contribution.
4. Expected annual return: use a long-run average for your portfolio. A diversified stock-heavy mix has historically averaged roughly 7% after inflation, but you should test a range.

The result updates instantly. Read the projected balance at retirement at the top, then check the split between total contributions and total tax-free growth, and scroll the year-by-year schedule to watch compounding accelerate in the later years.

Who this calculator is for

This tool is built for anyone who wants to see what consistent Roth contributions can become over time. That includes:

• Young savers deciding whether to open a Roth IRA and how much starting early really matters.
• Mid-career professionals who already contribute and want to project their balance at 60 or 65.
• People weighing Roth vs. traditional who want a clear picture of tax-free growth before they choose.
• Parents and grandparents modeling a Roth for a teen with earned income, where decades of compounding do the heavy lifting.
• Anyone near 50 who wants to see how the extra $1,000 catch-up contribution adds up over the final stretch to retirement.

A second worked example: starting later

Compounding rewards time, so the same contribution looks very different depending on when you begin. Suppose two people each contribute $7,000 a year at a 7% return until age 65. The first starts at age 25 and ends with roughly $1.5 million. The second starts at age 40 and ends with roughly $475,000 - less than a third, despite contributing for 25 of the 40 years. The 15-year head start is worth far more than the 15 years of extra contributions, because the earliest dollars compound the longest. If you start late, the calculator will show that increasing your annual amount and adding the age-50 catch-up help close part - though rarely all - of that gap.

Roth IRA vs. traditional IRA vs. 401(k)

A Roth is one of several tax-advantaged accounts, and they work well together:

• Roth IRA: funded with after-tax dollars; growth and qualified withdrawals are tax-free; no RMDs for the owner. Best when you expect equal or higher taxes in retirement.
• Traditional IRA: contributions may be tax-deductible now, but withdrawals are taxed later and RMDs apply. Best when you expect a lower tax rate in retirement. Compare the deductible-now path side by side with our Traditional IRA Calculator.
• 401(k): a workplace plan with a much higher limit ($23,500 for 2025) and often an employer match - free money you should generally capture first. It comes in both traditional and Roth flavors.

A common order of operations is: contribute enough to the 401(k) to get the full match, then max the Roth IRA for its tax-free growth and flexible withdrawal rules, then return to the 401(k) for the rest of your savings.

Tips to grow the number

• Start as early as you can: the example above shows time matters more than amount - even small contributions in your 20s outpace larger ones started in your 40s.
• Contribute the full limit each year: max contributions, made consistently, are the single biggest lever you control.
• Automate it: set up an automatic monthly transfer (about $583/month hits the $7,000 limit) so you never miss a year.
• Use the catch-up at 50: the extra $1,000 a year adds up over the final 15 years before retirement.
• Keep costs low: the return you enter is before fees - low-cost index funds leave more of the growth in your account.
• Don't withdraw early: pulling out earnings before the rules allow not only triggers tax and penalties, it also erases future compounding.

The 5-year rule and qualified withdrawals

The headline promise - tax-free growth - only holds if your withdrawal is qualified. Two conditions must both be met: the account has satisfied a 5-year holding period, and you are at least 59 and a half (death, disability, or a first-home purchase up to $10,000 also count). The 5-year clock starts on January 1 of the tax year of your first-ever Roth contribution, so a contribution made in April 2025 for tax year 2025 is treated as if it began on January 1, 2025. There is a separate 5-year clock for each Roth conversion, which matters if you are under 59 and a half and want to tap converted dollars without the 10% penalty. The order of withdrawals also works in your favor: the IRS treats money as coming out contributions first, then conversions, then earnings - so your already-taxed contributions are always reachable before any taxable earnings are touched.

Backdoor Roth IRA for high earners

If your modified adjusted gross income exceeds the IRS phase-out range, you cannot contribute to a Roth IRA directly - but a backdoor Roth is a legal workaround. You make a non-deductible contribution to a traditional IRA (which has no income limit) and then convert it to a Roth. The contribution step itself is not taxed because you funded it with after-tax dollars, but watch the pro-rata rule: if you hold other pre-tax IRA balances, the IRS treats your conversion as a blended mix of pre-tax and after-tax money, and the pre-tax portion is taxable. Because this calculator assumes direct contributions, it does not model the conversion tax; if you are weighing a backdoor or a larger Roth conversion, confirm the tax hit with a professional and a current-year Income Tax Calculator first.

The real impact of inflation

The projected balance is in future dollars, which can overstate its purchasing power. At roughly 3% annual inflation, money loses about half its value every 24 years, so a $1.14 million balance 35 years from now might feel more like $400,000 in today's terms. That does not make the Roth less valuable - the same erosion hits every account - but it is why financial planners focus on the real (after-inflation) return rather than the nominal one. A practical workaround is to enter an inflation-adjusted return in the calculator: instead of a 7% nominal return, use about 4% to read the result in today's dollars. To see how rising prices change a target savings number over time, our Inflation Calculator translates future amounts back into present-day value.

How it compares to related calculators

This page answers "what could my Roth IRA be worth at retirement?" If your question is different, a sister tool fits better:

• To weigh the deductible-now traditional path against this Roth, use the Traditional IRA Calculator.
• To project your workplace plan with an employer match, use the 401(k) Calculator.
• For a full retirement picture across every account and income source, use the Retirement Calculator.
• To model any lump sum or recurring deposit without IRS caps, use the Investment Calculator or the Compound Interest Calculator.
• To plan tax-advantaged health savings that doubles as retirement money after 65, use the HSA Calculator.

Limitations and assumptions

This projection is a planning estimate, not a guarantee. Keep these assumptions in mind:

• It applies a single constant return every year; real markets are volatile and some years are negative.
• It does not adjust for inflation - a million dollars in 35 years will buy less than a million today.
• It does not check income (MAGI) eligibility; it assumes you are allowed to contribute directly.
• It ignores fees, taxes on non-qualified withdrawals, and state rules, and uses the 2025 contribution limits without projecting future limit increases.
• Qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free at the federal level; the calculator does not model your eventual withdrawal strategy.

Sources

• Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - Roth IRAs (rules, qualified distributions, and the 5-year rule).
• Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - IRA contribution limits ($7,000 base / $8,000 catch-up for 2025).
• Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - Amount of Roth IRA contributions you can make for 2025 (MAGI phase-out ranges by filing status).
• Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - Publication 590-B (distributions, penalties, and RMD rules for IRAs).