NIH Salary Cap 2026: $228,000 and K Award Limits

This guide is for: Principal investigators, department administrators and pre-award staff building an NIH, K award or NSF budget for someone whose salary is near or above the federal limits.

Last updated: October 13, 2026

Full answer: The NIH salary cap is $228,000 a year for awards issued from January 1, 2026, according to NIH's salary cap summary. Grants can't pay anyone above that rate; the institution pays the rest from non-federal money. K awards add a second, lower limit set by each institute, usually $100,000 plus fringe for the K08 and K23 and $75,000 for most K99s. NSF has no dollar cap but limits each senior person to two months of salary a year across all NSF grants.

NIH Salary Cap 2026: $228,000, K Award Salary Limits by Institute, and NSF's Two-Month Rule

Data note: Grantsights checked the NIH salary cap summary, NIH Guide notices NOT-OD-26-034, NOT-OD-26-038 and NOT-OD-25-025, NIH's Individual Career Development Funding Considerations page and NSF's Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide on October 13, 2026. The K award table below comes from those official pages, institute by institute.

According to NIH, the salary limit comes from the annual appropriation act and is set at Executive Level II of the federal executive pay scale. The FY2026 salary limitation notice (NOT-OD-26-034) raised the limit to $228,000, and a correction (NOT-OD-26-038) moved its start from January 11 to January 1, 2026. Some university pages still show January 11.

Grantsights analysis of NIH's career development funding page shows the second limit matters more for most early-career budgets. A K08 candidate at a $250,000 base salary hits the institute's $100,000 K salary limit long before the $228,000 cap. The K08 award history shows what those awards total in practice.

The $228,000 NIH Salary Cap in 2026

The cap is $228,000 a year for NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards issued from January 1 through September 30, 2026. It's a rate, not a total: it limits what the grant can pay per year of effort, scaled to the share of time charged.

Source: NIH salary cap summary, FY 1990 to present, read October 13, 2026.

According to NIH's notice, active FY2026 awards that were held to the old rate can be rebudgeted to $228,000 if funds are available and the increase matches the person's institutional base salary. Recipients can't draw down any funds, direct or indirect, to pay above the cap. Offices often underestimate the second part: the rebudget has to come out of money already in the award.

For awards issued from October 1, 2026, NIH's summary page didn't show an FY2027 figure on October 13, 2026. Budget at $228,000 and check the page and the NIH Guide for the FY2027 notice before the award is issued.

How the Cap Works: 2 Worked Examples

The cap applies to the rate, so the math always starts with the person's institutional base salary and their effort.

Example 1, R01 investigator above the cap. Take one investigator at a medical school with a $300,000 institutional base salary and 25% effort on an R01. NIH pays 25% of $228,000, or $57,000. The other 25% of the $72,000 over the cap, $18,000, comes from the institution's non-federal funds. Fringe benefits are charged on the capped $57,000, not on $75,000.

Example 2, 9-month faculty. An assistant professor on a 9-month appointment with a $180,000 academic-year salary is above the 9-month equivalent of $171,000. Each academic-year month on the grant is capped at $19,000 ($228,000 divided by 12), against a real monthly rate of $20,000. One summer month at full effort pays $19,000 from the grant and $1,000 from the institution.

A common mistake is applying the cap to the total award instead of the rate. A person earning $150,000 is under the cap at any effort; nothing changes for them.

The Cap Covers Indirect Salaries Too, Since FY2025

Starting with FY2025 awards, the cap applies to two groups. According to NIH's salary cap summary and NOT-OD-25-025, it covers direct salaries, people working on the project, and indirect salaries, meaning executive salaries in indirect cost pools that used to be uncapped.

For FY1990 through FY2024 the cap applied only to direct salaries. Most explainers written before 2025 still say that. If executive salaries above $228,000 sit in your institution's indirect cost pools, the portion above the cap can't be charged to NIH awards.

K Award Salary Limits by Institute

Each NIH institute sets its own salary limit for career development (K) awards. Grantsights analysis of NIH's Individual Career Development Funding Considerations page, read October 13, 2026, for the parent K01 (PA-24-176), K08 (PA-24-182), K23 (PA-24-185) and K99/R00 (PA-24-194) notices:

"Not offered" means the institute isn't listed as participating in that parent notice. "Not listed" means the page gives no salary figure for that institute and award; ask its program staff. "Up to the salary cap" means the institute pays K salary up to the $228,000 rate. "Varies" covers institutes that set salary by career stage or field rather than by award. NICHD generally allows $75,000, and up to $100,000 for clinician-scientist awards. NINDS sets amounts by position: $75,000 for postdocs, $125,000 for mentored clinician-scientists and $150,000 for faculty. NIGMS allows up to $100,000 for clinician-scientists or quantitative scientists, and NLM up to $125,000 for mentored academic appointments and $75,000 for postdocs.

What stands out:

• K08 and K23 cluster at $100,000. 11 of the 12 institutes that give a K08 dollar figure use $100,000 plus fringe; NIBIB pays $105,000. NCI, NEI and NIEHS pay K08 salary up to the full cap.
• The K99 is the cheapest K. 10 of 16 institutes with a K99 figure allow $75,000. NHLBI, NIDA, NIDCR, NINR and NIAID allow $100,000. The K99/R00 award history puts the median first-year K99 at $126,735 in total cost.
• K01 limits split three ways: six institutes at $75,000, four at $90,000 and six at $100,000.
• Some institutes cap K salary by notice, not page. NIDA (NOT-DA-24-032) and NIAID (NOT-AI-24-038) set $100,000, and NIAMS set its K99 at $75,000 (NOT-AR-25-015).

A red flag in K budgets: requesting the institution's full salary at 75% effort. A K08 candidate at $250,000 base and 75% effort needs $187,500 in salary; at a $100,000 limit, the department covers $87,500 a year. Department chairs expect that conversation before the application goes in, not after the award.

NSF Has No Dollar Cap: The Two-Month Rule

NSF works differently, and the NSF budget preparation guide covers the rest of an NSF budget. According to Chapter II of NSF's PAPPG (NSF 24-1), NSF limits the salary requested for each senior or key person to two months of their regular salary in any one year, counting all NSF grants together. The organization defines "year" and states it in the budget justification.

More than two months is allowed only if it's disclosed in the budget, justified, and approved by NSF in the award budget. After an award, normal rebudgeting authority lets an institution change person-months, even past two months, without NSF approval as long as the project's scope doesn't change.

For example, a faculty member with a $120,000 9-month salary earns $13,333 a month, so the NSF two-month limit is about $26,667 a year across all of their NSF awards. A second NSF award doesn't create two more months.

NSF has published a draft "Guidance on Financial Assistance" that will replace the PAPPG; its feedback period closed August 24, 2026. Until NSF announces the replacement, PAPPG 24-1 and its Supplement 1 (NSF 26-200) apply.

What NIH's Salary Cap Page Doesn't Tell You

The salary cap summary gives the dollar figure and nothing else that budgets need. Four gaps cause most mistakes.

1. K limits are separate and lower. The $228,000 cap is rarely the binding limit on a K award; the institute's limit is. That's on a different NIH page, institute by institute.
2. The correction date. The page shows January 1, 2026, but NOT-OD-26-034 said January 11 until the correction. Budgets prepared in late January may still use the wrong date.
3. Fringe follows the capped salary. Fringe benefits are charged on the capped amount. Charging fringe on full salary overstates the request.
4. Rebudgeting uses existing funds. The notice lets active awards move to the new rate only if funds are available in the award.

Start here: for most early-career applicants, the K salary limit is the number to plan around, and departments that don't put the gap in writing early create problems at award time.

Related Guides

• NIH K-award success rates by institute
• NIH K99/R00 winners and award history
• NIH K08 winners and award history
• NIH K01 career development award guide
• NSF budget preparation guide
• How to write a grant budget

Find open NIH and NSF programs that fit your organization in the grant search.

Sources

• NIH salary cap summary, FY 1990 to present
• NOT-OD-26-034: Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements FY 2026
• NOT-OD-26-038: Correction to the FY 2026 salary limitation effective date
• NOT-OD-25-025: salary limitation applied to indirect salaries
• NIH Individual Career Development Funding Considerations and Contacts
• NSF PAPPG 24-1, Chapter II: Proposal Preparation Instructions