Social Security benefits go up 3.6% next year, and the pay subject to Social Security tax goes up to $192,300. Both numbers come from the agency's own cost-of-living announcement.
The increase reaches 76 million people. About 72 million Social Security beneficiaries see it in January payments, and roughly 7.3 million people on Supplemental Security Income see it earlier, on Dec. 31, 2026, because SSI payments for January arrive at the end of December.
What changes for someone still working
The taxable maximum is the ceiling on earnings that the Social Security tax touches, and it moves with the national average wage index rather than with the COLA, which is why it climbed by a larger percentage than benefits did this year.
| Year | Taxable maximum |
|---|---|
| 2024 | $168,600 |
| 2025 | $176,100 |
| 2026 | $184,500 |
| 2027 | $192,300 |
At the 2027 ceiling, an employee earning $192,300 or more pays $11,922.60 into the program over the year, and the employer pays the same. The rate itself does not change: 6.2% each for employee and employer, and 12.4% for a self-employed worker who covers both halves.
Medicare's hospital insurance tax has no ceiling at all. It runs 1.45% for employee and employer each, and 2.90% for the self-employed, on every dollar of covered earnings.
The earnings test, if you claimed early
Collecting benefits before full retirement age while still working triggers a withholding, and both thresholds rise next year.
Under full retirement age for all of 2027, the limit is $25,560, and Social Security deducts $1 from benefits for every $2 earned above it. For someone who reaches full retirement age during 2027, the limit is $67,920, the deduction is $1 for every $3 above it, and it applies only to the months before the birthday month. Once a person is full retirement age for the whole year, no limit applies.
Withheld benefits are not lost. Once a person reaches full retirement age, Social Security says it will recalculate the benefit "to give you credit for the months we reduced or withheld benefits due to your excess earnings." The agency also reviews earnings records every year, and a high earning year late in a career can raise the benefit on its own, retroactive to January of the following year.
When the numbers show up in writing
Notices with each person's 2027 amount go online in late November 2026, in the Message Center of a my Social Security account. Beneficiaries can also choose to get notices online rather than on paper by signing in or creating an account.
The 3.6% figure is the increase to the benefit before deductions. For most retirees the Medicare Part B premium comes out of the check, so the deposit that arrives in January reflects the COLA and whatever the Part B premium does for 2027. The two are set separately, by different agencies, and a larger Part B premium eats into a COLA before the money reaches the bank.
