"This maximum benefit is available to someone who has earned an income equal to or above the "wage base limit" for 35 or more years of their career. The wage base limit is a maximum income set annually that caps the amount of income subject to Social Security tax and counted when Social Security's monthly benefit amount is determined. In 2026, the wage base limit will be $184,500, while in 2025, the wage base limit was $176,100."
"The wage base limit exists to prevent people from having benefits climb too high. Because Social Security is an earned benefit based on average wages during your working life, if someone were making $1 million a year, their benefits would be close to $400,000 annually. The government doesn't want to be handing out so much money to wealthy people, so they created the wage base limit to cap the income that counts towards calculating benefits."
The 2026 maximum Social Security benefit is $5,251 per month, compared with an average benefit of $2,071. The maximum applies only to individuals whose indexed earnings met or exceeded the annual wage base limit for 35 or more years. The wage base limit caps the income subject to Social Security tax and therefore the earnings counted when calculating benefits; in 2026 that limit is $184,500 (it was $176,100 in 2025). The cap prevents extremely large benefits for very high earners; without it, million-dollar wages could produce disproportionately high annual benefits. People receiving the maximum are accustomed to higher buying power and likely could not maintain their prior lifestyle on $5,251 monthly.
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