Some Social Security recipients can claim more than $5,000 a month in benefits.
According to recent publications from the Social Security Administration, the new maximum benefit for 2026 is $5,181, which is roughly comparable to the median salary for full-time workers.
Technically, there is no simple maximum benefit. According to the Social Security Administration's frequently asked questions page, the payable benefit for those who worked since age 22 and earned the taxable maximum of $184,500 and retire at full retirement age—67 years old—is $4,152 per month. For those who retire at 70, their benefit would increase to $5,181. If the beneficiary retires early at 62, their benefit would be $2,969.
In order to receive the maximum benefit, a retiree must have earned the maximum taxable income for at least 35 years.
That $5,181 monthly income translates to $62,172 annually. That amount is just below the median salary for full-time workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' earnings survey: the median salary was $1,214 per week, which translates to $63,128 annually. But according to SSA data, only 6 percent of workers earn more than the taxable maximum and therefore would qualify for the maximum benefit.
The taxable maximum has also increased in 2026, from $176,100 in 2025.
In order to receive benefits, a worker must have accumulated at least 10 years of work. The full retirement age is 66 for Americans born between 1943 and 1954, and 67 for those born in 1960 or later. Should a worker retire at 62, their benefits would be about 30 percent below what they would be if they retired at full retirement age. Conversely, for every full year worked past full retirement age the benefit goes up by 8 percent. Social Security replaces up to 78 percent of lifetime average wages for low-income earners; 42 percent for middle-income earners, and 28 percent for high-income earners.
Retirees can keep working after they claim their Social Security benefits, but there are limits to how much income they can earn before their benefits decrease. In 2026, retirees at who retire early can earn up to $24,480 per year before their benefits are deducted at a rate of $1 for every $2 in income earned; In the year before they reach full retirement age, retirees can earn up to $65,160 before $1 in benefits is taken away for every $3 in earnings. Once the retiree reaches full retirement age, there are no more income caps and they can earn as much as they want without any benefits being withheld.
Beneficiaries saw a jump in their payments, thanks to the Social Security Administration's cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2026. The SSA announced earlier this year that benefits will increase 2.8 percent to keep up with the pace of inflation. COLA is directly tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on a monthly basis. The adjustment applies to all 71 million beneficiaries receiving Social Security and 7.5 million people receiving SSI payments.
“Social Security is a promise kept, and the annual cost-of-living adjustment is one way we are working to make sure benefits reflect today’s economic realities and continue to provide a foundation of security,” Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said in a press release on the Social Security Matters website published on Oct. 24.