Independent 529 education savings resource. Not affiliated with any 529 plan provider or state program.
529Calc

About 529PlanCalculator.com

529PlanCalculator.com is an independent reference for the 2026 529 college savings plan landscape. The calculator projects future tuition cost, models tax-free investment growth, and shows state tax savings for every state. The supporting guides cover IRS contribution limits, qualified expenses, superfunding, the SECURE Act 2.0 Roth rollover, and the OBBBA 2026 K-12 expansion.

Last verified July 2026

Why this site exists

529 plan rules are scattered. IRS Publication 970 covers the federal qualified-expense rules. The SECURE Act 2.0 added the $35,000 Roth IRA rollover. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 4 2025) doubled the K-12 limit to $20,000 effective January 1 2026, and broadened K-12 qualified expenses plus added postsecondary credentialing programs effective July 4 2025. Each of the 50 states publishes its own disclosure document with its own contribution maximum, expense ratio, deduction or credit rules, and Morningstar rating. SavingForCollege.com, Morningstar, and the College Savings Plans Network each maintain partial aggregations but with different scopes.

This site reduces all of that to one calculator plus a small set of comparable per-state numbers, each traceable to the primary source. The goal is to let a parent or grandparent answer the practical question (how much do I need to save, what is the state tax benefit, which plan is right for me) without reading nine different documents.

Editorial position

  • Not a 529 plan administrator, not a financial advisor, not a registered investment adviser, not a broker-dealer. This site does not sell 529 plans, manage assets, or earn commissions on plan rollovers.
  • No commercial relationships with any state 529 plan, mutual-fund company (Vanguard, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Dimensional Fund Advisors), Morningstar, the College Savings Plans Network, SavingForCollege.com, or any financial advisor or robo-advisor.
  • State plan rankings are based on published expense ratios, investment-menu breadth, plan administrator track record, and Morningstar ratings. No pay-to-rank.
  • Where 2026 OBBBA state-conformity rules are still uncertain (some states have not yet conformed to the K-12 limit increase or the expanded qualified-expense list), the site flags the uncertainty rather than asserting a position.
  • Not legal or tax advice. Consult a qualified tax professional or financial advisor before making a contribution, withdrawal, or rollover decision.

Who runs this site

529PlanCalculator.com is published by Digital Signet, a UK-based independent technology and personal-finance editorial group founded by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. The Digital Signet portfolio includes a cluster of US tax-and-finance calculators and comparison references that share the same editorial principles, source pattern, and refresh cadence.

Related references in the cluster:

What this site covers

529 Plan Calculator

Interactive projection by child age, target school, state, monthly contribution, and assumed investment return.

Plans by State

All 50 state 529 plans plus DC: tax benefit type, deduction limit, expense ratio, Morningstar rating, maximum account balance.

Tax Deduction by State

Per-state 529 tax deduction or credit math, the 8 states that allow a deduction for any state's plan, and estimated annual tax savings at median rates.

Contribution Limits

$19,000 annual gift exclusion, $95,000 single / $190,000 married superfunding, plus state maximum balances.

Best 529 Plans

Independent rankings by expense ratio, investment menu, and tax benefit. Utah my529, Nevada Vanguard, NY 529 Direct, others.

How Much to Save

Per-age savings benchmarks from newborn to 17 for in-state public, out-of-state public, private nonprofit and private research college cost projections.

Qualified Expenses

Complete IRS qualified-expense list for 2026 under Publication 970, SECURE 2.0, and OBBBA.

K-12 Tuition

OBBBA 2026 raised the K-12 annual limit from $10,000 to $20,000 and expanded qualified expenses (tutoring, AP/SAT/ACT, curriculum materials).

Apprenticeships and Trade Schools

How 529 funds cover registered apprenticeships, trade schools, and credentialing programs.

Superfunding

The 5-year IRS gift-tax election: lump $95,000 (single) or $190,000 (married) into one 529 in one year. IRS Form 709 filing.

Financial Aid Impact

Parent-owned 529s assessed at 5.64% on FAFSA; grandparent distributions no longer counted as student income post-2024 FAFSA Simplification Act.

529 to Roth IRA Rollover

SECURE Act 2.0 rules: $35,000 lifetime limit, 15-year account age, annual cap tied to Roth IRA limit, beneficiary earned-income requirement.

529 vs Roth IRA

Side-by-side comparison for college savings: contribution caps, tax treatment, FAFSA impact, and how the SECURE 2.0 rollover combines them.

529 vs Coverdell ESA

Contribution limits, investment menus, K-12 rules, and the Coverdell income phase-out that limits eligibility.

529 vs Savings Account vs UTMA

Head-to-head growth projections for college savings: 529 plans, high-yield savings, UTMA/UGMA, and taxable brokerage.

Editorial principles

Source pattern

Every contribution limit, deduction figure, qualified-expense rule, and rollover constraint on this site traces back to IRS Publication 970, the underlying SECURE Act 2.0 or OBBBA statute text, or the state 529 plan administrator's own disclosure document.

Rankings are not for sale

State plan order in tables is determined by tax-benefit type, expense ratio, and Morningstar rating, never by a commercial relationship. The site carries no display advertising, and no one can buy position, coverage or a plan rating.

No affiliate links on plan URLs

Outbound links to state 529 plan administrators (Utah my529, Nevada Vanguard 529, NY 529 Direct, California ScholarShare, Virginia Invest529, Indiana CollegeChoice, and others) are plain unaffiliated URLs. This site is a reference and collects no leads. The one partner link on the site is to Raisin, a savings marketplace, on the 529-vs-savings page, for short-term money that does not belong in a 529; it pays a commission and sits outside every table and verdict.

Re-checked against primary sources

Limits, deduction figures, and plan maximum balances are re-checked against IRS publications, state statutes and each plan's own documents when a source publishes a change and at each site review. The site-wide data label currently reads July 2026.

Honest dates

Each page's Updated date comes from the date its content last changed, computed when the site is built, so a page is never re-dated without a real edit. The data-verified label is separate and only moves when the figures are re-checked.

Conservative projection math

The calculator starts from College Board 2025-26 published prices (tuition, fees, housing and food) and grows them 4% a year, a stated planning assumption, with a 7% nominal investment return. Users can change the return assumption to model their own scenario.

Methodology in brief

The calculator engine projects college costs from College Board 2025-26 published prices (tuition, fees, housing and food) for four institution types (in-state public, out-of-state public, private nonprofit, private nonprofit doctoral) grown 4% a year, a stated planning assumption; models 529 investment growth at a default 7% nominal return; and computes the state tax benefit using each state's published deduction or credit rules. Plan maximum balances come from each plan's own documents.

Full source list, refresh cadence, calculation framework, and out-of-cycle triggers are documented on the methodology page.

Sources and trust

Primary federal sources used across the site:

Named state plan administrator pages and aggregators used:

  • Utah my529, Nevada Vanguard 529 College Savings Plan, NY 529 Direct, California ScholarShare 529, Virginia Invest529, Indiana CollegeChoice 529, Illinois Bright Start, Colorado CollegeInvest, New Mexico Scholars Edge, Pennsylvania PA529, Massachusetts U.Fund (each plan's own disclosure document)
  • College Savings Plans Network (CSPN)
  • SavingForCollege.com (cross-reference for per-state tax rules and plan attributes)
  • Morningstar 529 Plan Ratings (Gold / Silver / Bronze tier methodology)

Contact and corrections

If you spot an out-of-date limit, an unstated state-rule change, a broken link to a plan administrator, or a math error in the calculator, email [email protected]. Substantive corrections are reviewed within five business days, applied to source, and noted in the next monthly refresh stamp.

Disclosures

  • Free to read, with no display advertising. Nothing commercial influences the data, rankings or conclusions. See the privacy policy for what we collect.
  • No affiliate links or referral fees on any state plan administrator URL on this site.
  • One labelled partner link, to Raisin (a savings marketplace) on the 529-vs-savings page: we earn a commission if a reader opens and funds an account. It never affects a figure, ranking or verdict.
  • No email-gated downloads, lead forms, or referrals to financial advisors.
  • No relationship with the state 529 plans, plan administrators, mutual-fund companies (Vanguard, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Dimensional), Morningstar, College Savings Plans Network (CSPN) or SavingForCollege.com named on this site.
  • Calculator outputs are projections, not financial advice. Federal and state 529 rules are subject to legislative change; OBBBA implementation details may not be final in every state.

Updated 2026-11-01