People spend decades paying into the Social Security system, expecting to be supported in retirement with a guaranteed monthly income. It keeps millions financially afloat, but in some cases, it's simply a nice supplement. In either case, I'm sure the thought of having the maximum benefit appeals to almost everyone.
Achieving the maximum Social Security benefit isn't easy, but some people do qualify. If you do (or will), here's what you can expect at ages 62, 67, and 70.
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The maximum benefits in 2026
Ages 62, 67, and 70 are three of the most important milestones in Social Security. Age 62 is the earliest you can claim benefits, age 67 is the full retirement age for anyone born in 1960 or later, and age 70 is the latest you can delay benefits and still receive monthly increases.
Assuming your full retirement age is 67, claiming at 62 would mean receiving 30% less than you would at your full retirement age (called your primary insurance amount). Claiming at 70 would mean receiving a 24% increase to your primary insurance amount.
For example, if your primary insurance amount were $2,000, you'd receive $1,400 if you claimed benefits at 62 and $2,480 if you claimed at 70. Below are the maximum payouts for those ages in 2026:
- Age 62: $2,969
- Age 67: $4,207
- Age 70: $5,251
How to become eligible for the maximum benefit
The first step to achieving the maximum benefit deals with your career earnings and Social Security's wage base limit. The wage base limit is the maximum amount of your income that's subject to the Social Security payroll tax each year. For example, the wage base limit in 2026 is $184,500, so if you were to earn $190,000, you wouldn't pay Social Security payroll taxes on $5,500 of it.
To be eligible for the maximum benefit, you would need to earn at least the wage base limit in each of the 35 years that Social Security uses to calculate your benefit. At that point, you would've paid the maximum amount of taxes in those years, putting you in a position to receive the maximum possible payout.
The wage base limit usually increases annually, so it's not a set number that you have to cross once. Here were the five previous wage base limits:
- 2025: $176,100
- 2024: $168,600
- 2023: $160,200
- 2022: $147,000
- 2021: $142,800
Social Security says that only around 20% of current and future covered workers earn above the wage base limit in at least one year of their careers, so the number of people eligible for the maximum benefit is quite low.
