---
url: https://thresholds.pages.dev/social-security/
title: "Social Security Earnings Test Limits and Rules"
updated: 2026-09-07
site: Thresholds
sources:
  - https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/cola/factsheets/2026.html
  - https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0302501030
  - https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/program-explainers/retirement-earnings-test.html
  - https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/ageincrease.html
---

# Social Security Earnings Test Limits and Rules

The 2026 earnings-test exempt amounts, the 1-for-2 and 1-for-3 withholding rules, and why the benefits held back are not lost. Verified 2026-09-07.

If you claim a Social Security retirement benefit before full retirement age and keep working, SSA holds part of it back. The test stops entirely in the month you reach full retirement age, and the withheld months are credited back through a permanently higher benefit from that point. Figures verified 2026-09-07.

## The 2026 figures

- $24,480 — Annual earnings-test exempt amount for 2026 for someone under full retirement age all year. (SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet; verified 2026-09-06; applies from 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31)
- $2,040 — Monthly earnings-test exempt amount used only in a grace year — $24,480 ÷ 12. (SSA — special earnings limit rule; verified 2026-09-06; applies from 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31)
- $65,160 — Annual earnings-test exempt amount for the year you reach full retirement age; counts only earnings before the FRA month. (SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet; verified 2026-09-06; applies from 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31)
- $5,430 — Monthly exempt amount in the FRA year — $65,160 ÷ 12. (SSA — special earnings limit rule; verified 2026-09-06; applies from 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31)
- $1 withheld for every $2 over the limit — Withholding rate below full retirement age. (SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet; verified 2026-09-06; applies from long-standing, no announced end date)
- $1 withheld for every $3 over the limit — Withholding rate in the year you reach full retirement age, for months before the FRA month. (SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet; verified 2026-09-06; applies from long-standing, no announced end date)
- No earnings test from the month you reach full retirement age — The retirement earnings test stops applying in the month you reach FRA. (SSA — receiving benefits while working; verified 2026-09-06; applies from long-standing, no announced end date)
- 67 years — Full retirement age for people born in 1960 or later. (SSA — retirement age calculator; verified 2026-09-06; applies from long-standing, no announced end date)
- 2.8% — Social Security cost-of-living adjustment applied to benefits from January 2026. (SSA press release, 2025-10-24; verified 2026-09-06; applies from 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31)
- $184,500 — Maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax in 2026. (SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet; verified 2026-09-06; applies from 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31)
- Withheld benefits are credited back through a permanently higher benefit at full retirement age — SSA recomputes the benefit at FRA to give back the months withheld by the earnings test. (SSA — program explainer: retirement earnings test; verified 2026-09-06; applies from long-standing, no announced end date)
- Gross wages and net earnings from self-employment only — The earnings test counts work income only. (SSA — receiving benefits while working; verified 2026-09-06; applies from long-standing, no announced end date)

## What is not known yet

The 2027 exempt amounts do not exist. SSA sets them from third-quarter CPI-W data and announces them with the cost-of-living adjustment, expected mid-October 2026. Any 2027 dollar figure circulating before then is a projection.

Calculator: https://thresholds.pages.dev/social-security/earnings-test/. Every 2026 threshold: https://thresholds.pages.dev/numbers/2026/.

## Sources

- [SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet](https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/cola/factsheets/2026.html)
- [SSA POMS RS 02501.030; SSA "special earnings limit rule"](https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0302501030)
- [SSA — program explainer: retirement earnings test](https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/program-explainers/retirement-earnings-test.html)
- [SSA — retirement age calculator](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/ageincrease.html)

---
Information, not advice. Figures verified 2026-09-07. https://thresholds.pages.dev/social-security/