The Maximum Social Security Benefit in 2025 and 2026
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- The Social Security Administration gathers data on up to 35 of your highest-earning years.
- The Social Security Administration indexes those earnings for inflation so that income you earned in, say, 1993 is revised to reflect what that income is in today’s dollars. Earnings after age 60 that qualify as among your highest-earning years are included at their actual nominal value.
- After that, Social Security applies a somewhat-complex formula to determine your primary insurance amount, which is the benefit payment you would receive if you wait until you reach full retirement age.
- You're also eligible for cost-of-living benefit increases starting the year you turn 62, even if you don't take your benefits until later.
- The Social Security Administration decreases your benefit if you retire before your full retirement age, and it increases your benefit if you delay retirement until after your full retirement age (up to age 70).
Your actual benefit may be lower or higher than estimate made with this calculator, because it does not take into account your actual earnings history.
We assume you have earnings every year until you begin receiving Social Security benefits. If you had several years of noncovered employment or your earnings changed significantly from year to year, this calculator will overestimate or underestimate your benefit.
About these results
We estimated and then indexed your past earnings by using your current annual salary, the national average wage indexing series and the Social Security Administration's annual wage base.
We assume that people age 18 to 22 are less likely to have full-time earnings.
Future earnings are based on correct annual salary and expected annual salary increase.
With the exception of the indexing factor applied to past earnings, the calculations do not include an inflation rate. The results are presented in today's dollars.
How to maximize your retirement income
Contributing to an individual retirement account (IRA)
- With a traditional IRA, you may be able to deduct your contributions, which can reduce your tax bill in the year you contribute.
- With a Roth IRA, you can't deduct your contributions, but your investments grow tax-free and you can withdraw money tax-free in retirement.
- Take a spousal benefit, which can be as much as 50% of what your spouse receives at full retirement age if they’re the higher earner — even if you’re divorced.
- See if you qualify for survivor's benefits, which can be up to 100% of the deceased’s benefit amount, plus a one-time Social Security death benefit of $255.
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Article sources
- 1. Social Security Administration. What is the maximum Social Security retirement benefit payable?. Accessed Oct 24, 2025.
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