The Retirement Earnings Test Exempt Amounts, by Year
Earnings exempt before FRA, 2026
$24,480
$2,040 a month. In the year you reach full retirement age the exempt amount rises to $65,160 and the withholding rate falls.
Working while collecting before full retirement age triggers withholding: $1 of benefit for every $2 of earnings above the lower exempt amount. In the year you reach full retirement age the rate softens to $1 for every $3, counting only earnings before the birthday month. From full retirement age there is no test at all.
Withheld is not lost
At full retirement age SSA recomputes the benefit to credit back the months in which benefits were withheld, which raises the monthly payment from that point onward. The earnings test defers money; it does not confiscate it. The mechanism in full.
| Year | Under FRA | Year of FRA |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $24,480 | $65,160 |
| 2025 | $23,400 | $62,160 |
| 2024 | $22,320 | $59,520 |
| 2023 | $21,240 | $56,520 |
| 2022 | $19,560 | $51,960 |
| 2021 | $18,960 | $50,520 |
| 2020 | $18,240 | $48,600 |
| 2019 | $17,640 | $46,920 |
| 2018 | $17,040 | $45,360 |
| 2017 | $16,920 | $44,880 |
| 2016 | $15,720 | $41,880 |
| 2015 | $15,720 | $41,880 |
| 2014 | $15,480 | $41,400 |
| 2013 | $15,120 | $40,080 |
| 2012 | $14,640 | $38,880 |
| 2011 | $14,160 | $37,680 |
| 2010 | $14,160 | $37,680 |
| 2009 | $14,160 | $37,680 |
| 2008 | $13,560 | $36,120 |
| 2007 | $12,960 | $34,440 |
| 2006 | $12,480 | $33,240 |
| 2005 | $12,000 | $31,800 |
| 2004 | $11,640 | $31,080 |
| 2003 | $11,520 | $30,720 |
| 2002 | $11,280 | $30,000 |
| 2001 | $10,680 | $25,000 |
| 2000 | $10,080 | $17,000 |
| 1999 | $9,600 | $15,500 |
| 1998 | $9,120 | $14,500 |
| 1997 | $8,640 | $13,500 |
| 1996 | $8,280 | $12,500 |
| 1995 | $8,160 | $11,280 |
| 1994 | $8,040 | $11,160 |
| 1993 | $7,680 | $10,560 |
| 1992 | $7,440 | $10,200 |
| 1991 | $7,080 | $9,720 |
| 1990 | $6,840 | $9,360 |
| 1989 | $6,480 | $8,880 |
| 1988 | $6,120 | $8,400 |
| 1987 | $6,000 | $8,160 |
| 1986 | $5,760 | $7,800 |
| 1985 | $5,400 | $7,320 |
| 1984 | $5,160 | $6,960 |
| 1983 | $4,920 | $6,600 |
| 1982 | $4,440 | $6,000 |
| 1981 | $4,080 | $5,500 |
| 1980 | $3,720 | $5,000 |
| 1979 | $3,480 | $4,500 |
| 1978 | $3,240 | $4,000 |
| 1977 | $3,000 | $3,000 |
| 1976 | $2,760 | $2,760 |
| 1975 | $2,520 | $2,520 |
The other rate series
- Social Security Wage Base
The maximum earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax, and the employee contribution it implies.
- Quarter of Coverage
What one Social Security credit costs in earnings, indexed to the average wage index each year.
- PIA Bend Points
The two dollar hinges in the benefit formula, fixed for life at the year you turn 62.
- Family Maximum Bend Points
The three hinges that cap the total payable on one earnings record.
- Substantial Gainful Activity
The monthly earnings level that defines disability work activity, non-blind and blind.
- Trial Work Period
The monthly earnings that make a month count against the nine-month trial work period.
- SSI Federal Payment Rate
The federal SSI standard for an individual and a couple, and the unrounded annual amount each derives from.
- Maximum Social Security Benefit
The highest benefit a worker retiring at full retirement age can receive, and what the COLA does to it.
- Average Social Security Benefit
What SSA publishes as the average payment for each beneficiary category, and the distribution behind it.
- National Average Wage Index
The wage series that indexes the wage base, the bend points and the cost of a credit.
- SSI Student Earned Income Exclusion
How much a student under 22 can earn before SSI counts it, monthly and annually.
By programme
- Retirementretired workers
- DisabilitySSDI
- SSIthe federal rate
- Survivorswidows and widowers
- Spousalon a worker record
- Childrenand the family maximum
Sources and freshness
- SSA OACT — Retirement earnings test exempt amounts — verified 10 August 2026
- SSA OACT — Retirement earnings test exempt amounts — verified 10 August 2026
- SSA Office of the Chief Actuary — Cost-of-Living Adjustments — verified 10 August 2026
Series keyed by: Calendar year.
Figures effective 2026. Page figures last verified against the sources above on 10 August 2026. Corrections: the correction log · support@inventum.com.au