What Is the Social Security Earnings Limit?
The Social Security earnings limit for 2026 is $24,480 if you’re under full retirement age for the whole year. Above it, Social Security withholds $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn. In the year you reach full retirement age, the limit is $65,160 and the withholding is $1 for every $3, counting only earnings before the month you reach that age. From that month on, there is no limit.
For 2027, the limits rise to $25,560 and $67,920. Benefits withheld under this earnings test aren’t lost: once you reach full retirement age, your monthly benefit is recalculated upward to make up for them.
Earnings limits by year
| Year | Under full retirement age all year | Year you reach full retirement age |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | $25,560 | $67,920 |
| 2026 | $24,480 | $65,160 |
| 2025 | $23,400 | $62,160 |
| 2024 | $22,320 | $59,520 |
| 2023 | $21,240 | $56,520 |
Swipe sideways to see the full table →
The limits rise each January with the national average wage index. The first column applies in every year before the year you reach full retirement age, and the withholding there is $1 for every $2 over. The second applies only to the months before your full retirement age month in the year you reach it, with $1 withheld for every $3 over.
How the withholding works
Social Security doesn’t trim each check. It estimates the total to withhold for the year and then holds back whole monthly payments, starting in January, until it has withheld at least that much.
Say your benefit is $1,800 a month and you expect to earn $40,000 in 2026. That’s $15,520 over the limit, so $7,760 has to be withheld. Social Security holds back your first five checks, January through May, which is $9,000, and pays you normally from June. The extra $1,240 withheld is paid back to you in 2027, after your actual earnings for the year are known.
Being over the limit doesn’t wipe out a typical benefit. Only half of the excess is withheld, so at $48,960, twice the 2026 limit, the withholding is $12,240 for the year. A higher salary can hold back the whole year’s benefit, which is why claiming early while still working full time often pays little.
Should you take Social Security at 62 while working?
It depends on how far over the limit you’ll be. Here’s what 2026 looks like for someone whose benefit at 62 is $1,400 a month, $16,800 for the year:
| Earnings in 2026 | Withheld for the year | Benefits actually paid |
|---|---|---|
| $24,480 or less | $0 | $16,800 |
| $36,000 | $5,760, taken as the first 5 checks | 7 checks; $1,240 returned the next year |
| $48,960 | $12,240, taken as the first 9 checks | 3 checks; $360 returned the next year |
| $60,000 | $17,760, more than the whole year | Nothing |
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At $60,000 a year, starting at 62 brings in no money until you cut back or reach full retirement age. You’d still have locked in the early claim, and if your spouse or children are paid on your record, your earnings hold back their checks too.
Months withheld aren’t wasted: at full retirement age your benefit is refigured as if you’d started later. But that credit only fixes the reduction, so if every check was withheld from 62 to full retirement age, you end up where you would have been by waiting, minus the flexibility you gave up.
Claiming at 62 while working tends to make sense when:
- Your earnings will stay near or under the limit, for example from part-time work.
- You’ll stop working partway through the year, so the special monthly rule below lets you collect from the month after you stop.
- You need the income now and your health or family history makes a long retirement unlikely.
Otherwise, waiting until you stop working or reach full retirement age usually leaves you with a larger check and no withholding to track. The break-even ages for 62, 67 and 70 apply once the checks are actually being paid. Benefits paid while you work can also become taxable, since your wages push up the income used in that test.
The year you reach full retirement age
In that calendar year, only earnings in the months before your full retirement age month count, the limit is higher and the withholding is $1 for every $3. If you reach full retirement age in November 2026 and earn $68,520 from January through October, you’re $3,360 over, so $1,120 is withheld. From November on, you can earn any amount.
The special rule for the year you retire
People who retire partway through a year have often earned more than the annual limit already. For one year, usually the first year you retire, Social Security pays a full benefit for any month you’re considered retired, whatever you earned for the whole year.
You’re considered retired in a month if your wages are no more than:
| Year | Under full retirement age all year | Year you reach full retirement age |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $2,040 a month | $5,430 a month |
| 2027 | $2,130 a month | $5,660 a month |
Swipe sideways to see the full table →
For example, someone who retires at 62 at the end of October 2026 after earning $45,000, then takes a part-time job paying $500 a month, still gets full benefits for November and December. A month with wages above the monthly amount gets no benefit.
This grace year is the first year you have a month that counts as retired after your benefits start, not simply the first year you claim. If you claim at 62 but keep working full time, your grace year comes later, in the year you actually cut back. After the grace year, only the annual limit applies. A new grace year is possible in limited cases, such as starting a different type of benefit after a break.
If you’re self-employed, Social Security looks at your hours as well as your earnings. More than 45 hours a month in your business generally means you’re not retired; less than 15 hours means you are. Between 15 and 45 hours, you’re not considered retired if the work is highly skilled or you manage a sizable business.
What counts as earnings
- Gross wages from a job, including bonuses, commissions and vacation pay, plus any retirement plan contributions included in gross wages.
- Net earnings from self-employment.
It doesn’t count pensions, annuities, investment income, interest, capital gains, veterans benefits, or other government or military retirement benefits. IRA and 401(k) withdrawals don’t count either, since they aren’t earnings from work.
Timing matters. Wages count in the year you earn them, not the year you’re paid, so a bonus or unused vacation pay earned in 2025 and paid in 2026 isn’t 2026 earnings. Self-employment income counts when you receive it, except income for work done before you started benefits.
Whose benefits it affects
The earnings test applies to retirement benefits and to benefits as a spouse or survivor when you’re under full retirement age. For a survivor, the test uses your full retirement age for your own retirement benefit, even though the full retirement age for survivor benefits may be earlier.
Watch out: If your spouse or children get benefits on your record, your excess earnings reduce their payments too. Their own wages, though, reduce only their own benefits.
The test doesn’t apply to disability benefits. If you get SSDI, a separate limit decides whether you’re still disabled, and you report all your earnings; working on SSDI follows its own rules. SSI income limits are different again.
What you get back at full retirement age
When you reach full retirement age, Social Security recalculates your benefit as if you had started later by the number of months withheld. It isn’t a lump-sum refund; it’s a higher monthly amount for life.
Suppose you start at 62 in 2026 at $910 a month and later have 12 months of benefits withheld for work. At 67, your benefit is refigured to about $975 a month in today’s dollars. If you earned so much that every payment from 62 to 67 was withheld, your benefit at 67 becomes the full $1,300, the same as if you had never claimed early.
One group doesn’t get this credit: spouses and survivors who receive benefits because they care for a child under 16 or a disabled child.
Your work can also raise your benefit directly. Each year, Social Security checks the records of beneficiaries who work, and if your latest year is one of your highest 35, it refigures your benefit. An increase from 2025 earnings, for example, is paid in December 2026, retroactive to January 2026.
Reporting your earnings
When you apply, you give Social Security an estimate of your earnings for the year, and it sets the withholding from that. If your earnings will be different, for example because of a raise, a bonus or a new job, tell Social Security right away so it can adjust the rest of the year’s payments. Otherwise you’ll get an overpayment notice the following year, once your W-2 or tax return shows the actual amount.
If you were under full retirement age and your earnings were over the limit, the annual report of earnings is due by April 15 of the following year. A tax return or W-2 filed on time that shows the same earnings counts as the report, and Social Security can grant up to four more months if you ask in writing before the deadline. Without good cause, a late report can cost a penalty: up to one month’s benefit the first time, two months’ the second time and three months’ each time after that.
Not the same as other Social Security limits
Three different dollar limits are easy to mix up:
- The earnings limit, $24,480 in 2026, decides whether benefits are withheld before full retirement age.
- The taxable maximum, $184,500 in 2026, is the most earnings subject to Social Security tax each year.
- The tax thresholds, $25,000 single or $32,000 joint, decide when up to 85% of your benefits become taxable income.