The $65,160 Income Limit Some Social Security Recipients Need to Know About
Working while collecting Social Security sounds simple enough, but a little-known earnings rule can quietly shrink your monthly checks before you even realize it applies to you.
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Retirement doesn’t always mean the end of your working years.
Many people continue working after they begin collecting Social Security, whether to earn extra income, stay socially engaged, maintain a sense of purpose, or simply have a reason to get out of the house. A part-time job or consulting arrangement can make retirement more enjoyable while helping you stretch your savings. For many households, that extra paycheck is the difference between a comfortable retirement and a tight one.
But if you claim Social Security before reaching your full retirement age (FRA), earning too much from work can temporarily reduce your monthly benefits. Social Security enforces an earnings test that limits how much you can make before some of your checks are withheld.
If you will reach FRA at some point in 2026, one number deserves your attention: $65,160.
How Social Security’s earnings test works
The earnings test applies only to people who are collecting retirement benefits before reaching FRA and are still working. Once you hit FRA, the rule disappears entirely. At that point, you could earn $300,000 a year and still receive every dollar of your monthly benefit.
For those who will reach FRA during 2026, the threshold is $65,160, up from $62,160 in 2025. Stay at or below that level and your Social Security checks are untouched. Exceed it and Social Security withholds $1 in benefits for every $3 you earn above the limit, but only until the month you actually reach FRA.
The math is straightforward. If your earnings top the limit by $9,000, Social Security withholds $3,000 in benefits for the year. Because the withholding stops the moment you reach FRA, the impact is always limited to a portion of the year.
For people who are still several years away from FRA, a stricter test applies. In 2026, the lower earnings limit is $24,480, up from $23,400 in 2025. Exceeding that amount triggers a $1 withholding for every $2 earned above the threshold, a significantly steeper penalty. Those who start collecting benefits mid-year also face a monthly version of the test: $5,430 per month in the year you reach FRA, and $2,040 per month in earlier years.
The $65,160 threshold gives most part-time workers and moderate consultants plenty of room to earn without penalty. Those in higher-paying engagements, however, may find themselves bumping against the limit.
The critical thing to understand is that withheld benefits are not forfeited. Once you reach FRA, Social Security recalculates your benefit upward to account for the months that were withheld, and you recoup that money through larger monthly checks going forward.
Should you claim Social Security if you’re still working?
It is a fair question, given that the earnings test can zero out near-term benefits for high earners. The honest answer is that it depends on your specific circumstances.
If you have already reached FRA, the question is easy: there is no earnings test to worry about, so there is no earnings-related reason to delay taking benefits if you have an immediate use for the income.
If you are still below FRA, the calculation requires more thought. Start by estimating your expected wages and how much Social Security might be withheld because of them. Then weigh that temporary reduction against your need for income today.
One point often overlooked in this calculation is the permanent impact of filing early. Claiming before FRA does not just trigger the earnings test; it also locks in a lower monthly benefit for life. For someone born in 1960 or later, with a FRA of 67, filing at the earliest possible age of 62 permanently reduces benefits by 30%. At a 2026 FRA benefit of up to $4,207 per month, that reduction amounts to more than $1,200 in monthly income given up for life. That permanent cost is often more significant than the temporary withholding from the earnings test.
For people who can only work part-time and genuinely need Social Security to cover their bills, filing makes clear sense. In most of those situations, earnings will fall comfortably beneath the withholding thresholds anyway.
The earnings test is not a reason to avoid claiming Social Security or to stop working. It is a rule to understand so you can plan around any financial impact before it surprises you.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to include 2025 comparison figures for both earnings test thresholds ($62,160 and $23,400), 2026 monthly earnings test limits ($5,430 and $2,040), and the 2026 maximum monthly benefit at full retirement age ($4,207), sourced from the Social Security Administration.
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Maurie Backman has more than a decade of experience writing about financial topics, including retirement, investing, Social Security, and real estate. Her work has appeared on sites that include The Motley Fool, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and CNN Underscored.
