Do you know anyone that receive the maximum pension? It’s not a myth, but is very rare.
To be able to reach the Social Security maximum monthly benefit for retirees, people need to prove the right combination of income, career duration, and good timing. From 2026, the agency will allow the highest benefit ever seen until now: $5,251 each month. However, most of retirees receive a lot less than that. In November 2025, the average monthly benefit for a retired worker was $2,013, according to the Social Security administration.
There’s a significant difference between those two amounts, but is not a mistake, is a reflection of what the system believe is important to designate the benefit figures. They strongly reward long carriers and high—and consistent—incomes; and if you wait the longest possible, that’s a plus.
To be able to actually reach that maximum is not designed to be simple.
What you need to receive the maximum pension
The first thing you need is time (worked time). Social security calculates your benefits using your higher 35 years with higher income. But attention: if you work less than 35 years, those “gap” years will be counted as ceros; which will reduce the average amount of your monthly checks.
Then, you need to have patience, but what do I mean by that? Delay your retirement as long as is possible. Claiming your benefits earlier than the official retirement age (67) reduces permanently what you receive. If you claim at 67, you avoid penalizations, but if you wait a bit more, the benefit can go up too.
To qualify for the maximum benefit in 2026, you will have to wait until you turn 70 years old to stop working. Every year that you delay ir after full retirement age you get more credit for delayed retirement and your monthly payment goes up. After 70 you can not keep adding credits though, that’s the limit.
The more you wait, the more you get
Social security has a maximum limit of income subject to taxes ($176,100 in 2025 and $168,600 in 2024). They only count income up to this annual limit, and any income that succeeds that is not taxed for Social Security purposes and is not incorporated into the calculation of future benefits. In 2026, that cap will rise to $184,500.
A worker has to earn close to that cap year after year, if they want to be elegible for the maximum benefit. Having that salary for one or two years won’t do it. The “magic formule” is consistency over a long period of time, 35 years, to be exact.
However, yo don’t see that consistency everyday. Professional carriers are more often than not irregulars. People looses jobs, move to different cities, change sectors, or even do sabbaticals. Sometimes salary can vary, like a roller coaster throughout life. And even those who make a lot, cannot always reach the maximum taxable every year.
In 1990, the cap was $51,300. People who started working at that time would have needed sustained income growth for decades just to keep up with the rising thresholds.
That’s why only a very small percentage of retirees qualifies for the maximum benefit.
A better plan retirement
The 2026 raise on the cap to $184,500 is still very elevated for those who wish to get the maximum, and the rest of people would continue to have solid payments but smaller.
With the system, it’s usually difficult to win, and understanding the rules won’t make you rich, but at least it can help you make your retirement decision with a clearer view of the future.