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Taxable Maximum Earners
Released: August 2021Next expected update: 2023
- Every year, roughly 6 percent of covered workers have earnings above the taxable maximum.
- Almost 20 percent of current and future covered workers are projected to have earnings above the taxable maximum in at least one year.
- About two-thirds of aged beneficiaries in 2050 who are projected to have earnings over the taxable maximum will be in the highest shared earnings quintile.
SOURCE: Social Security Administration, Annual Statistical Supplement 2019, Table 4.B1.
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Year | Percentage of covered workers |
---|---|
1937 | 3.1 |
1940 | 3.4 |
1945 | 13.7 |
1950 | 28.9 |
1951 | 24.6 |
1952 | 27.9 |
1953 | 31.3 |
1954 | 31.6 |
1955 | 25.6 |
1956 | 28.5 |
1957 | 29.9 |
1958 | 30.6 |
1959 | 26.7 |
1960 | 28.0 |
1961 | 29.2 |
1962 | 31.2 |
1963 | 32.5 |
1964 | 34.5 |
1965 | 36.1 |
1966 | 24.2 |
1967 | 26.4 |
1968 | 21.4 |
1969 | 24.5 |
1970 | 26.0 |
1971 | 28.3 |
1972 | 25.0 |
1973 | 20.3 |
1974 | 15.1 |
1975 | 15.0 |
1976 | 14.9 |
1977 | 14.8 |
1978 | 15.4 |
1979 | 10.0 |
1980 | 8.8 |
1981 | 7.6 |
1982 | 7.1 |
1983 | 6.3 |
1984 | 6.4 |
1985 | 6.5 |
1986 | 6.2 |
1987 | 6.2 |
1988 | 6.5 |
1989 | 6.2 |
1990 | 5.7 |
1991 | 5.6 |
1992 | 5.7 |
1993 | 5.6 |
1994 | 5.4 |
1995 | 5.8 |
1996 | 6.1 |
1997 | 6.2 |
1998 | 6.3 |
1999 | 6.1 |
2000 | 6.2 |
2001 | 5.9 |
2002 | 5.4 |
2003 | 5.5 |
2004 | 5.9 |
2005 | 6.1 |
2006 | 6.0 |
2007 | 6.1 |
2008 | 6.0 |
2009 | 5.5 |
2010 | 5.7 |
2011 | 6.2 |
2012 | 6.1 |
2013 | 6.0 |
2014 | 6.0 |
2015 | 6.2 |
2016 | 6.4 |
2017 | 5.9 |
SOURCE: Modeling Income in the Near Term, Version 8 (MINT8) microsimulation model.
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Five-year birth cohort (1930 = born between 1930 and 1934) | Percentage of covered workers |
---|---|
1930 | 44.3 |
1935 | 43.1 |
1940 | 40.8 |
1945 | 31.9 |
1950 | 23.0 |
1955 | 18.5 |
1960 | 16.9 |
1965 | 17.2 |
1970 | 17.6 |
1975 | 16.0 |
1980 | 17.6 |
1985 | 17.9 |
1990 | 17.7 |
1995 | 16.9 |
2000 | 18.1 |
2005 | 17.6 |
2010 | 17.3 |
2015 | 17.4 |
2020 | 17.7 |
2025 | 17.6 |
NOTES: Lifetime shared earnings are the wage-indexed value of shared lifetime total earnings. Shared earnings are the same as individual earnings except that the earnings for married couples are “shared,” that is the sum of the married couple's earnings are divided in half and each half is attributed to one of the spouses.
SOURCE: Modeling Income in the Near Term, Version 8 (MINT8) microsimulation model.
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Lifetime shared earnings quintile | Percentage of the population aged 60 or older |
---|---|
Lowest | 0.6 |
Second lowest | 2.5 |
Middle | 7.6 |
Second highest | 23.8 |
Highest | 65.6 |