Want the Max $5,108 Social Security Benefit? Here's the Salary You Need

Nobody's getting rich on their Social Security retirement income. A small handful of people are doing surprisingly well with it, however, collecting the maximum possible $5,108 per month. That's $61,296 per year, which is almost what the average full-time U.S. worker is earning right now, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These lucky few retirees also likely have income from sources other than Social Security, of course.

The sizable number begs one overarching question: How can you set yourself up to max out your future Social Security benefits?

Although it's not the only determining factor, your eventual Social Security payments are a reflection of the amount of taxable income you earned during your working years. The more you make, the more you get back in benefits.

Maxing out your FICA-taxable income

Social Security may serve as a social safety net. However, it's anything but a wealth redistribution program (from the more affluent to the less fortunate). The amount of your future benefits correlates directly to the amount of income you earn while you're working.

The FICA taxes on your pay stub? That's short for "Federal Insurance Contributions Act." Some of these contributions fund the Medicare program, but most are handed over to the Social Security Administration on your behalf. The more money you make, the more you pay in FICA taxes, and the more the program gives back to you in retirement.

To get the maximum benefit later, you must earn the maximum FICA-taxable income now. For 2025, that number is $176,100. Anything less, and this year's work-based earnings will leave you at least a little short of securing the maximum possible payback. If you earn a lot less, the further away you'll be from maxing out your future benefits.

On the other hand, earning more than $176,100 this year won't help you. Since benefits are absolutely capped at $5,108 per month, the program doesn't take any additional FICA taxes out of your pay for earning beyond this year's ceiling of $176,100.

That's just this year, of course. The taxable earnings ceiling rises every year, more or less in line with inflation. The table below lays out the amount of annual taxable income you would need to have earned, going back to 1986, to receive the maximum possible benefit now.

Data source: Social Security Administration.

2026's maximum taxable threshold -- for Social Security purposes, anyway -- is $184,500, by the way.

Earning (far) better-than-average income is only one part of the equation. Two other factors also play a role in determining your eventual Social Security benefits.

The rest of the story

It's not simply a matter of earning above-average money while you're working in order to receive the biggest benefits payments once you're retired. You must earn this sort of income for many, many years. In fact, you'll need to have earned at least the amounts cited in the table above in each of their respective years for a minimum of 35 years. Reaching these inflation-adjusted taxable income thresholds for less than 35 years will leave you a little bit short of the maximum possible payment.

There is some flexibility here. When calculating your monthly retirement benefit, the Social Security Administration looks at the 35 years where you reached -- or even just got closest to -- those years' ceilings. They don't necessarily have to be the most recent 35 years, and they don't even have to be a consecutive 35 years. The program picks the 35 years that will result in your maximum payment.

Image source: Getty Images.

Don't panic if you know you're not going to work a full 35 years. Although this will reduce the size of your future Social Security payments, it certainly doesn't prevent you from filing and collecting. It just means you won't be collecting the maximum monthly payment of $5,108.

The other factor considered when determining your Social Security benefit? Your age. Although the official full retirement age right now is in the ballpark of 67 (depending on when you were born), to max out your payments, you must wait until you turn 70 to begin collecting. This adds about 24% to the amount you'd be receiving if you claimed at the age of 67, in exchange for collecting benefits for three fewer years.

Don't bother waiting beyond age 70 to file, though. Doing so won't make your benefits payments any bigger.

Not your only path to a nice retirement

It's certainly something to think about, although for most people, the amount of money they earn at a job is the one aspect of their work that they have the least control over.

But that's OK. Most people never get anywhere close to the maximum possible Social Security benefits payment of $5,108. The Social Security Administration reports that the current average monthly payment is a much smaller $1,976.

The good news is, you can still do quite well for yourself even with just-average income in your working years. By saving adequately for retirement and then investing this money wisely, in fact, you can easily build a seven-figure nest egg capable of producing more than $5,108 worth of monthly income in the future.

For perspective, earning the market's average annual return of 10% on an annual $5,000 investment in the overall market should get you to a sum of roughly $1.5 million in 35 years. The key is being disciplined enough to save the kind of money you need to as you earn it, and then resisting the temptation to try to out-trade the market.

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