We study the muon anomalous magnetic moment $$(g-2)_{\mu }$$ ( g - 2 ) μ in the context of the reduced minimal 3-3-1 model recently proposed in the literature. In particular, its spectrum contains a doubly charged scalar ( $$H^{\pm \pm }$$ H ± ± ) and gauge boson ( $$U^{\pm \pm }$$ U ± ± ), new singly charged vectors ( $$V^{\pm }$$ V ± ) and a $$Z^{\prime }$$ Z ′ boson, each of which might give a sizeable contribution to the $$(g-2)_{\mu }$$ ( g - 2 ) μ . We compute the 1-loop contributions from all these new particles to the $$(g-2)_{\mu }$$ ( g - 2 ) μ . We conclude that the doubly charged vector boson provides the dominant contribution, and by comparing our results with the experimental constraints we derive an expected value for the scale of $$\mathrm{SU}(3)_L\otimes U(1)_N$$ SU ( 3 ) L ⊗ U ( 1 ) N symmetry breaking $$v_{\chi } \sim 2$$ v χ ∼ 2 TeV. We also note that, if the discrepancy in the anomalous moment is resolved in the future without this model then the constraints will tighten to requiring $$v_\chi \gtrsim 3.7$$ v χ ≳ 3.7 TeV with current precision, and they will entirely rule out the model if the expected precision is achieved by the future experiment at Fermilab.