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Social Security Earnings Limit 2027: $25,560, and What Happens Over It
In 2027 you can earn $25,560 before full retirement age; above that, SSA holds back $1 for every $2. The limit ends at full retirement age.
Held back in 2027
$7,220
from your checks, paid back at full retirement age
In 2027 Social Security would hold back $7,220 ($1 for every $2 over $25,560): the whole of 4 monthly checks and $820 of the next from January 2027. The months held back are not lost: your benefit is raised at full retirement age.
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Sources (Social Security Administration unless named): Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test; 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Fact Sheet. Checked October 29, 2026.
If you get Social Security before your full retirement age and still work, you can earn $25,560 in 2027 without losing any benefits. Above that, SSA holds back $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn. In the calendar year you reach full retirement age, the limit is $67,920, only your pay before the month you reach it counts, and SSA holds back $1 for every $3. From that month on there is no limit at all (SSA’s earnings test).
Type what you expect to earn in 2027, your monthly benefit and your date of birth. The calculator picks the limit that applies to you and works out how much SSA would hold back, and how many monthly payments that is. For the year you reach full retirement age, it takes your pay as spread evenly over the year.
What are the Social Security earnings limits for 2027?
The retirement earnings test is the rule that holds back some of your benefits while you are under full retirement age and earn more than a yearly limit. There are two limits. If you are under full retirement age for all of 2027, the limit is $25,560 for the year, or $2,130 a month. If you reach full retirement age during 2027, it is $67,920 for the months before that, or $5,660 a month (SSA’s 2027 fact sheet).
For 2026 the two limits were $24,480 and $65,160. They go up in most years, because SSA ties them to the national average wage index (20 CFR 404.430).
The test applies to retirement benefits and to spouse’s and survivor benefits taken before full retirement age. It does not apply to disability benefits, which have work rules of their own (20 CFR 404.415).
Which limit applies to you in 2027?
It depends on your date of birth, because that sets when you reach full retirement age (20 CFR 404.409; see the table by year of birth):
- Born January 2, 1961 or later: you are under full retirement age all year, so the lower limit, $25,560, applies.
- Born January 2, 1960 to January 1, 1961: you reach 67 during 2027, so the higher limit, $67,920, applies to your pay in the months before the month you reach it.
- Born January 1, 1960 or earlier: you reached full retirement age in 2026 or before, so there is no limit in 2027.
Born on June 15, 1960, for example, you reach 67 in June 2027. Only what you earn from January to May counts, against the higher limit, and nothing after.
How much does SSA hold back if you earn over the limit?
It holds back half of what you earn over the lower limit, or a third of what you earn over the higher limit in the year you reach full retirement age. In SSA’s words, that is $1 withheld for every $2 above the lower amount, and $1 for every $3 above the higher one (SSA). Two examples, with made-up pay:
- Under full retirement age all year. Say you are 63 throughout 2027, your benefit is $1,500 a month, and you earn $12,000 more than $25,560. SSA holds back half of the $12,000: $6,000, which is four monthly payments.
- Reaching full retirement age in 2027. Say you reach it in October 2027, your benefit is $1,500 a month, and from January to September you earn $9,000 more than $67,920. SSA holds back a third: $3,000, which is two monthly payments. What you earn from October on does not count.
The test looks at each person’s own earnings, so your spouse’s pay does not count against benefits on your own record. But a worker’s excess earnings come off everything paid on the worker’s record. If you are the worker and you go over, SSA can also hold back the benefits your spouse or children get on your record (20 CFR 404.434). A spouse divorced from you for at least 2 years is not affected (20 CFR 404.415).
How does SSA hold the money back?
SSA takes the amount out of your benefits month by month, starting in January, until it has all of it (20 CFR 404.434). In the first example above, your benefits for January, February, March and April 2027 would be held back, and payments would carry on from May. If the last month needs only part of a payment, the rest of that payment is still made (20 CFR 404.439).
Which checks SSA holds back in 2027
- Pay you expect
- $40,000
- Limit
- $25,560
- Over the limit
- $14,440
- Held back, $1 of every $2
- $7,220
- January: check held back
- February: check held back
- March: check held back
- April: check held back
- May: part held back, $780 paid
- June: $1,600 paid
- July: $1,600 paid
- August: $1,600 paid
- September: $1,600 paid
- October: $1,600 paid
- November: $1,600 paid
- December: $1,600 paid
Held back, not lost: from full retirement age, June 2031, SSA raises the benefit for good for the months it held back.
In 2027 Social Security would hold back $7,220 ($1 for every $2 over $25,560): the whole of 4 monthly checks and $820 of the next from January 2027. The months held back are not lost: your benefit is raised at full retirement age.
One gate for each month’s check. SSA holds back whole checks from the first month of the year that benefits are paid, never more than the year’s checks, and pays the rest of a check it needs only part of (20 CFR 404.439). Example: pay of $40,000 in 2027, a benefit of $1,600 a month, born June 15, 1964, paid all year; change the calculator above and the gates follow. Our drawing and arithmetic, from SSA’s limits.
Sources (Social Security Administration unless named): Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test; 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Fact Sheet. Checked October 29, 2026.
SSA starts from an estimate of your earnings for the year, which is why the calculator asks what you expect to earn. Wages count before deductions, so use your gross pay, not your take-home pay.
Is there a monthly limit in your first year?
Yes. In your first year with a month in which you earn no more than $2,130 in wages and do no substantial work in a business of your own, SSA uses a monthly test instead of the yearly one. You get your full benefit for every such month, whatever you earned earlier in the year (20 CFR 404.435). For most people that first year is the year they retire.
The regulation’s own example works like this. Someone aged 62 retires from a regular job in April, after earning more than the yearly limit from January to April, and then works part time without earning more than the monthly amount. That year they get benefits for May to December, even though their pay for the year is over the yearly limit. In the years after, up to the year of full retirement age, only the yearly test applies.
For a business of your own, SSA looks at how much time you spend on it and what kind of work you do, not only at the money (20 CFR 404.446). In the year you reach full retirement age, the monthly amount is $5,660 (SSA).
Is the money held back lost?
No. SSA says that benefits held back while you work are not lost: once you reach full retirement age, your monthly benefit is raised for good to account for the months it held back (SSA’s earnings test). The rule behind it takes those months out of the count of months you claimed early (20 CFR 404.412).
You get the money back as a higher check over the years, not as a lump sum. That is why going over the limit costs less than it first looks: each month held back now means a slightly larger payment from full retirement age on, for life.
What counts as earnings for the limit?
Your wages before deductions and your net earnings from self-employment count; other income does not. SSA’s rules define earnings as wages for work you do, plus net earnings from self-employment, minus any net loss from self-employment, with wages counted at their gross amount before taxes and insurance are taken out (20 CFR 404.429).
What is left out, under the same rules:
- pension payments from an employer’s tax-exempt retirement trust or annuity plan (20 CFR 404.1052);
- dividends and interest, unless you are a dealer in stocks and securities (20 CFR 404.1083);
- gains from selling capital assets, such as stocks (20 CFR 404.1084);
- rent from real estate, unless you are a real estate dealer (20 CFR 404.1082).
Wages count in the year you do the work. If an employer reports pay in 2027 for work you did before, such as a late bonus, you can show SSA that it belongs to the earlier year (20 CFR 404.429(d)). Income left out of the earnings test can still count for income tax on your benefits, which uses a different test; see taxes on Social Security.
- 6270% of the full amount
- 6375%
- 6480%
- 6586.67%
- 6693.33%
- 67100%: full retirement age
- 68108%
- 69116%
- 70124%: no more credits after 70
When does the earnings limit stop?
It stops in the month you reach full retirement age. From then on you can earn any amount and keep every check; earnings in or after that month are not counted at all (20 CFR 404.430). In the year you reach it, only the months before count, against the higher limit.
Work after you start benefits can even raise them. SSA can use a later year of earnings in place of a lower year among the 35 it averages, if that gives a higher benefit (20 CFR 404.211; see how benefits are calculated).
Should you claim early if you are still working?
Claiming early while you earn well over the limit often gains little: most or all of the checks are held back, and the months are only credited back at full retirement age. If you earn only a little over the limit, claiming early still pays most of the year’s checks. These are general rules, not advice for your situation; the trade-offs of each claiming age are on claiming at 62, 67 or 70.
Figures checked October 29, 2026.
Questions people ask
How much can I earn on Social Security in 2027 without a penalty?
$25,560 if you are under full retirement age all year, and $67,920 in the year you reach it, counting only the months before (SSA). From the month you reach full retirement age there is no limit.
Is the earnings limit based on gross or net income?
Gross wages, before taxes and insurance are taken out. For self-employment, it is your net earnings after business expenses (20 CFR 404.429).
Does my spouse’s income count toward my earnings limit?
Not against benefits on your own record: each person’s limit is on their own earnings. But if you get a spouse’s benefit on your husband’s or wife’s record, their earnings over the limit can reduce it, and the same goes the other way.
Do pensions or investment income count toward the earnings limit?
No. Pension payments from an employer’s tax-exempt retirement plan, interest, dividends, capital gains and rent from real estate are left out, unless dealing in securities or real estate is your business; only wages and self-employment earnings count.
Do I get the Social Security that was withheld back?
Yes, over time. At full retirement age SSA raises your monthly benefit for good to make up for the months it held back.
Does the earnings limit apply to disability benefits?
No. Disability benefits have their own work rules, built around “substantial gainful activity”, which is $1,770 a month in 2027, or $2,950 for people who are blind (SSA).