The Roth IRA income limit — the modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) range that limits regular Roth IRA contributions — was frozen for the Roth IRA’s first nine years ($95,000–$110,000 for single filers and $150,000–$160,000 for married-filing-jointly from 1998 through 2006), then became inflation-indexed beginning in 2007 under IRC §408A(c)(3). For 2026, IRS Notice 2025-67 sets the phase-out at $153,000–$168,000 (single / head of household) and $242,000–$252,000 (married filing jointly). The table below tracks these bands for all 29 tax years, with filing-status qualifications below it. This page tracks income eligibility; for the separate history of the under-50 contribution cap — $2,000 → $7,500 — see Roth IRA Contribution Limits by Year.

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Quick Facts

  • infoFrozen 1998–2006, indexed since 2007. The thresholds did not move for the program’s first nine years.
  • check_circle2026: single/HoH $153,000–$168,000; married filing jointly $242,000–$252,000.
  • infoThe phase-out width is fixed: $15,000 for single filers and $10,000 for joint filers in every year. Only the starting point moves with inflation.
  • warningMarried filing separately and lived with your spouse at any time during the year? The range is $0–$10,000 in every year shown; it is not indexed. Filing separately while living apart all year uses the single band.
  • check_circleIncome eligibility is only one test. Qualifying compensation and the shared Traditional/Roth IRA contribution limit still apply. A backdoor Roth involves separate contribution, conversion and tax rules.

How the Roth IRA Income Limit Works

The income test for regular Roth IRA contributions uses modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), not gross salary. It does not govern every way money can enter a Roth IRA, such as an eligible rollover or conversion. For regular contributions:

  • At or below the lower threshold — the income test does not reduce your otherwise-available contribution limit.
  • Above the lower threshold but below the upper threshold — apply the IRS reduced-contribution calculation, including its rounding rules.
  • At or above the upper threshold — no regular direct Roth IRA contribution is allowed for that tax year.

For 2026, the regular annual IRA cap is $7,500, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older by year-end ($7,500 plus a $1,100 catch-up). This is a shared limit across your Traditional and Roth IRAs, not a separate allowance for each account. Contributions also require enough qualifying compensation; a joint return may allow a spouse with little or no compensation to use the spousal-IRA rules. See the IRS contribution-limit rules.

Reduced contribution is not just a percentage rounded to whole dollars. IRS Publication 590-A, Worksheet 2-2, applies the phase-out to the lesser of the age-based cap or qualifying compensation. The resulting allowance is rounded up to the next $10; a positive allowance below $200 generally becomes $200. The remaining shared IRA allowance can still reduce that amount, and the $200 rule does not permit a contribution at or above the upper income cutoff. Use the limits and worksheet for the relevant tax year; the current publication’s worked worksheet is for 2025, while Notice 2025-67 supplies the 2026 amounts.

Roth-contribution MAGI can be lower or higher than AGI. Publication 590-A, Worksheet 2-1, starts with AGI, subtracts income included from a Traditional-to-Roth IRA conversion or a qualified-plan rollover to a Roth IRA, and then adds back specified deductions and exclusions. These include the Traditional IRA deduction, student-loan interest deduction, foreign earned income and housing exclusions or deduction, excluded qualified savings-bond interest, and excluded employer-provided adoption benefits. Special refiguring rules can apply to other AGI-sensitive items. This conversion-income subtraction is specific to Roth-contribution eligibility; it does not erase the conversion’s taxable income for other purposes.

Year-by-Year MAGI Phase-Out Thresholds (1998 → 2026)

Each range shows the lower phase-out threshold and the income cutoff for regular direct contributions, subject to the compensation, shared-limit and rounding rules above. The 1998–2006 figures share one row because both bands were unchanged throughout those nine tax years. These are nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted purchasing-power amounts.

Year Single / Head of Household Married Filing Jointly
1998–2006$95,000–$110,000$150,000–$160,000
2007$99,000–$114,000$156,000–$166,000
2008$101,000–$116,000$159,000–$169,000
2009$105,000–$120,000$166,000–$176,000
2010$105,000–$120,000$167,000–$177,000
2011$107,000–$122,000$169,000–$179,000
2012$110,000–$125,000$173,000–$183,000
2013$112,000–$127,000$178,000–$188,000
2014$114,000–$129,000$181,000–$191,000
2015$116,000–$131,000$183,000–$193,000
2016$117,000–$132,000$184,000–$194,000
2017$118,000–$133,000$186,000–$196,000
2018$120,000–$135,000$189,000–$199,000
2019$122,000–$137,000$193,000–$203,000
2020$124,000–$139,000$196,000–$206,000
2021$125,000–$140,000$198,000–$208,000
2022$129,000–$144,000$204,000–$214,000
2023$138,000–$153,000$218,000–$228,000
2024$146,000–$161,000$230,000–$240,000
2025$150,000–$165,000$236,000–$246,000
2026$153,000–$168,000$242,000–$252,000

Married filing separately: if you lived with your spouse at any time during the tax year, the phase-out is $0–$10,000 in every year shown. A positive MAGI below $10,000 falls in the phase-out; MAGI of $10,000 or more prevents a regular direct contribution. If you lived apart for the entire year, use the single/head-of-household column. This distinction comes from IRC §219(g)(4), applied by §408A(c)(3)(C).

Qualifying surviving spouse, 2026: use the joint-return range, $242,000–$252,000, as confirmed by Notice 2025-67 and Publication 590-A. The table’s joint column is labeled for actual joint returns; do not automatically apply today’s surviving-spouse treatment to old tax years.

Three Eras of the Roth Income Limit

  1. The frozen origin (1998–2006). The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, P.L. 105-34 §302, enacted August 5, 1997, created the Roth IRA for tax years beginning after December 31, 1997. The original single and joint bands were $95,000–$110,000 and $150,000–$160,000, with no automatic inflation adjustment.
  2. Indexing begins (2007). The Pension Protection Act of 2006, P.L. 109-280 §833(c)–(d), enacted August 17, 2006, added indexing for tax years beginning after 2006. The first indexed lower thresholds were $99,000 (single) and $156,000 (joint) in 2007. By 2020 they were $124,000 and $196,000.
  3. The largest annual steps (2023 and 2024). In this 1998–2026 series, the largest increases in the lower thresholds occurred in 2023: $9,000 for single filers ($129,000 → $138,000) and $14,000 for joint filers ($204,000 → $218,000). The next-largest increases were in 2024: $8,000 and $12,000, bringing the lower thresholds to $146,000 and $230,000.

Why the Thresholds Move the Way They Do

The statutory formula differs from simply applying a headline inflation rate to last year’s rounded threshold:

  • Only the starting point is indexed; the width is fixed. The single band is $15,000 wide and the joint band is $10,000 wide in every year shown. The cost-of-living adjustment moves the lower edge; the upper edge follows.
  • The original dollar amounts and a 2005 reference year matter. IRC §408A(c)(3)(D) increases the original $95,000 and $150,000 amounts using the §1(f)(3) cost-of-living formula, with 2005 substituted as the reference year.
  • The current formula uses chained CPI. IRC §1(f)(3)–(6) uses the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U), with a transition adjustment for a reference year before 2017. The annual index is a 12-month average ending August 31 of the year before the tax year, not the single August reading or a January–December average. The statute also specifies which published index values to use.
  • The increase rounds to the nearest $1,000 — not always down. This is separate from the $10 rounding of a person’s reduced contribution. Small movements can leave a published threshold unchanged; the single band was $105,000–$120,000 in both 2009 and 2010.

The $0–$10,000 married-filing-separately band is not indexed. It applies only under the living-with-spouse condition described above; a separate return by itself does not put every married filer into that band.

Which Year’s Limits Should You Use?

Use the IRS limits for the tax year of the contribution. As checked on September 29, 2026, the latest year on the IRS retirement-plan COLA page is 2026. This article does not provide a 2027 forecast. Applying an assumed inflation percentage to a rounded 2026 threshold is not a substitute for the statutory calculation or the IRS announcement.

The Bottom Line

The 2026 lower income thresholds are each about 1.61 times their 1998 amounts ($153,000 ÷ $95,000 for single filers; $242,000 ÷ $150,000 for joint filers). Those are nominal comparisons; indexing started in 2007, not 1998. Income above the direct-contribution cutoff does not itself prohibit a Roth conversion, but a backdoor Roth still requires an eligible Traditional IRA contribution and attention to conversion tax and the IRA pro-rata rule. A workplace Roth 401(k) has no MAGI participation ceiling, if your plan offers it and you are eligible; its own contribution limits apply. See the IRS Roth comparison chart for that distinction.

Sources and Historical Verification

The table was checked against the enacted laws and the IRS publications below. A publication’s tax-year label is not its release date, and a “What’s New” section may explicitly give the following year’s amounts. Page references below are printed page numbers.

Corrections and updates

September 29, 2026 — Factual correction. Corrected the explanation that the inflation increase is rounded down: the law requires rounding to the nearest $1,000. Corrected overbroad eligibility summaries by stating the living-with-spouse condition for married filing separately, the compensation and shared-IRA limits, and the conversion-income subtraction in Roth-contribution MAGI. Removed unsupported legislative-intent language and 2027 projections. The year-by-year single and joint threshold amounts were checked and did not change.

Clarification. Added the 2006 law’s enactment and 2007 effective date, the 2005 indexing reference year and current chained-CPI method, the separate $10/$200 reduced-contribution rules, and direct historical IRS citations. The original May 20, 2026 publication date is retained.