diff --git a/sqlalchemy_utils/types/password.py b/sqlalchemy_utils/types/password.py
index ade3524..ec6d1c6 100644
--- a/sqlalchemy_utils/types/password.py
+++ b/sqlalchemy_utils/types/password.py
@@ -48,14 +48,15 @@ class PasswordType(types.TypeDecorator, ScalarCoercible):
 
     """
 
-    impl = types.BINARY(60)
+    impl = types.VARBINARY(1024)
 
     python_type = Password
 
-    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+    def __init__(self, max_length=None, **kwargs):
         """
-        All keyword arguments are forwarded to the construction of a
-        `passlib.context.CryptContext` object.
+        All keyword arguments (aside from max_length) are
+        forwarded to the construction of a `passlib.context.CryptContext`
+        object.
 
         The following usage will create a password column that will
         automatically hash new passwords as `pbkdf2_sha512` but still compare
@@ -84,6 +85,25 @@ class PasswordType(types.TypeDecorator, ScalarCoercible):
         # Construct the passlib crypt context.
         self.context = CryptContext(**kwargs)
 
+        if max_length is None:
+            # Calculate the largest possible encoded password.
+            # name + rounds + salt + hash + ($ * 4) of largest hash
+            max_lengths = []
+            for name in self.context.schemes():
+                scheme = getattr(__import__('passlib.hash').hash, name)
+                length = 4 + len(scheme.name)
+                length += len(str(getattr(scheme, 'max_rounds', '')))
+                length += scheme.max_salt_size or 0
+                length += getattr(scheme, 'encoded_checksum_size',
+                    scheme.checksum_size)
+                max_lengths.append(length)
+
+            # Set the max_length to the maximum calculated max length.
+            max_length = max(max_lengths)
+
+        # Set the impl to the now-calculated max length.
+        self.impl = types.VARBINARY(max_length)
+
     def process_bind_param(self, value, dialect):
         if isinstance(value, Password):
             # Value has already been hashed.
diff --git a/tests/types/test_password.py b/tests/types/test_password.py
index f212fbd..da4209c 100644
--- a/tests/types/test_password.py
+++ b/tests/types/test_password.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from pytest import mark
 import sqlalchemy as sa
 from tests import TestCase
+from sqlalchemy import inspect
 from sqlalchemy_utils.types import password
 from sqlalchemy_utils import Password, PasswordType
 
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@ class TestPasswordType(TestCase):
             password = sa.Column(PasswordType(
                 schemes=[
                     'pbkdf2_sha512',
+                    'pbkdf2_sha256',
                     'md5_crypt'
                 ],
 
@@ -67,3 +69,20 @@ class TestPasswordType(TestCase):
         assert obj.password.hash.startswith('$1$')
         assert obj.password == 'b'
         assert obj.password.hash.startswith('$pbkdf2-sha512$')
+
+    def test_auto_column_length(self):
+        """Should derive the correct column length from the specified schemes.
+        """
+
+        from passlib.hash import pbkdf2_sha512
+
+        impl = inspect(self.User).c.password.type.impl
+
+        # name + rounds + salt + hash + ($ * 4) of largest hash
+        expected_length = len(pbkdf2_sha512.name)
+        expected_length += len(str(pbkdf2_sha512.max_rounds))
+        expected_length += pbkdf2_sha512.max_salt_size
+        expected_length += pbkdf2_sha512.encoded_checksum_size
+        expected_length += 4
+
+        assert impl.length == expected_length