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Taxable Maximum Earners

Released: August 2021
Next 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.
Chart. Title: Covered Workers with Earnings Over the Taxable Maximum in a Given Year. Line chart with tabular version below.
SOURCE: Social Security Administration, Annual Statistical Supplement 2019, Table 4.B1.
Show as table
Table equivalent for chart: Covered Workers with Earnings Over the Taxable Maximum in a Given Year
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
Chart. Title: Covered Workers Projected to Ever Earn Over the Taxable Maximum. Line chart with tabular version below.
SOURCE: Modeling Income in the Near Term, Version 8 (MINT8) microsimulation model.
Show as table
Table equivalent for chart: Covered Workers Projected to Ever Earn Over the Taxable Maximum
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
Chart. Title: Distribution of the Population Aged 60 or Older Ever Earning Over the Taxable Maximum, 2050: Percentage by lifetime shared earnings quintile. Pie chart with tabular version below.
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.
Show as table
Table equivalent for chart: Distribution of the Population Aged 60 or Older Ever Earning Over the Taxable Maximum, 2050 (percentage by lifetime shared earnings quintile)
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