(NEXSTAR) – Hoping to collect maximum Social Security benefits after you retire? It’s not likely unless you were among the country’s top earners for many of your working years.
In order to max out monthly benefits upon retirement, a worker in the United States would had to have earned an income equal to or greater than the ever-increasing taxable maximum, which determines how much a worker contributes to Social Security each paycheck. The taxable maximum (as the name implies) is the annual earnings threshold that is subject to Social Security taxes.
The current taxable maximum in 2025 is $176,100. This means that workers who earned more than $176,000 in 2025 are paying Social Security taxes up to the taxable maximum; workers who earn less are paying Social Security taxes at a rate based on their full income.
But It’s not solely a worker’s income (and whether it exceeds the earnings threshold) that determines whether they can earn the maximum monthly retirement benefits. Social Security benefits for retirees are based on a worker’s “highest 35 years of earnings,” meaning a retiree would only qualify for maximum benefits if they earned above the taxable threshold for 35 years.
The age at which a worker decides to retire is also a factor. If a retiree had made the maximum contributions to Social Security in 35 working years, but begins collecting benefits at 62 (the earliest age eligible), they would receive only $2,831 per month, as of 2025. If that same retiree waits to collect until age 67, which is considered the “full retirement” age for citizens born after 1960, they would be eligible for $4,018 per month.
And if a retiree delays retirement past their “full” retirement age, and begins collecting benefits at age 70, their payments could be as much as $5,108 per month — the current maximum amount in 2025.
“Each extra year you work adds another year of earnings to your Social Security record,” the Social Security Administration explains of delaying retirement. In addition, an extra 8% is added to your payments “for each full year you delay receiving Social Security benefits beyond full retirement age” until 70, the agency says.
The maximum payment amount is also increasing every year, thanks to annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) and calculations accounting for the (aforementioned) increases to the taxable minimum, which jumps from $176,100 to $184,500 in 2026.
For those reasons, workers planning to retire in 2026 can receive as much as $5,430 per month, provided they were top earners and paid into Social Security for several decades.
It’s not likely that many Americans will fall into this category, however. The average retiree’s Social Security payment amounted to $1,975.34 as of 2024, according to the Social Security Administration’s most recent Annual Statistical Supplement report. And only a minority of retirees in 2024 (12.9%) were earning over $3,000 or more per month, the report indicated.
A representative for the Social Security Administration said the agency does not publish statistics related to the number of beneficiaries currently receiving maximum monthly benefits.
Workers hoping to increase their benefits upon retirement, meanwhile, have only a few options: They can start trying to earn more during their working years, or plan on delaying retirement until 70. Social Security recipients are also allowed to work while receiving benefits, but a portion of those benefits will be deducted if the recipient has not reached the full retirement age, and is earning more than a yearly earnings limit set by the Social Security Administration.
The agency also recommends planning for retirement sooner rather than later, and using its online benefits calculators to help estimate what kind of payments to expect.
“Even if you are not near your retirement age, you can start planning at any time,” the agency says.