Traditional IRA Income and Contribution Limits

An individual retirement account (IRA) offers tax advantages for saving for retirement, and knowing the rules around contributions, tax incentives, and withdrawals can help you make the most of them.

With a traditional IRA, you get the tax benefits upfront. Contributions to a traditional IRA may be tax-deductible in the year they're made, which could help lower your taxable income. Investments in the account (including any earnings) grow tax-deferred until you make withdrawals, which are taxed as ordinary income.

That upfront tax break is one of the main things that differentiates traditional IRAs from Roth IRAs, which are funded with post-tax dollars and allow no tax deductions for contributions.

» Dive deeper: Our explainer on traditional IRA withdrawal rules

Traditional IRA contribution rules

The IRS imposes a total combined limit for IRA contributions each year. That means you can have multiple IRAs, such as a traditional and a Roth, and contribute to them every year, but there’s a cap on total contributions.

For 2024, the IRA contribution limit is $7,000 for those under 50, and $8,000 for those age 50 and older.

» Learn more: Read our step-by-step guide to opening an IRA

A few other rules around traditional IRA contributions:

• Having earned income is a requirement for contributing to a traditional IRA, and your annual contributions to an IRA cannot exceed what you earned that year. If your taxable earned income for the year is $4,000, that’s also your IRA contribution limit.

• While there are no income restrictions for contributing to a traditional IRA, the amount you can deduct may be limited by your income. Other factors, such as filing status, whether you’re covered by a workplace retirement plan, and more could also affect whether you can deduct your IRA contributions.

• There is no minimum required amount for opening an IRA, and no rules about how much money you must deposit. Note that brokers set their own account minimums, but the requirement is often lower for IRAs versus taxable brokerage accounts. At some brokers, the account minimum for IRAs is $0.

• If you’re a nonworking spouse, you can have what’s called a spousal IRA as long as your spouse earns enough to cover the contribution. That means if you both want to contribute the maximum to an IRA, and you’re both under 50, your spouse will need to earn at least $14,000 (to cover the $7,000 annual maximum for each of you in 2024).

• The contribution limit doesn’t apply to transfers from other retirement accounts, such as those used to create a rollover IRA. You should also note the deadline for IRA contributions for any given tax year is tax day — typically April 15 — of the following calendar year. That means you have until April of 2025 to contribute to your IRA for tax year 2024.

» Ready to get started? See our top picks for best IRA accounts

Traditional IRA income limits

The traditional IRA has no income limits for contributing, unlike the Roth IRA. Anyone can contribute, but your ability to deduct contributions may be reduced or eliminated depending on your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), your filing status, and whether you, or your spouse, have an employer retirement plan.

The below traditional IRA income limits apply only if you (or your spouse) have a retirement plan at work.

» For comparison: See Roth IRA income and contribution limits