How Some Retirees are Benefiting from High Social Security Payouts

Some Retirees Will Get a $4,873 Check This Month From Social Security

A small number of retirees get a very large benefit because they paid a lot of money into the Social Security system. This month, some retirees are going to get a $4,873 check from Social Security. This isn't because of any special program, but rather it's because that's the amount of their monthly retirement benefits check.

Some retirees get a $4,873 monthly benefit because of their earnings

So, why do some retirees get such a big check every month? It's because retirement benefits are based on average wages, and their average wage was pretty high. Most people pay Social Security tax on every dollar they make. And all the money they make becomes part of their Social Security earnings record. When it comes time to retire, Social Security adjusts their wages over their career for inflation, figures out their average earnings in the 35 years when their salary was highest, and gives them benefits equal to a percent of those average wages.

• There is a cap on how much income is taxed by Social Security and how much is counted in the benefits formula. This cap is called the wage base limit, and it's $168,600 in 2024 (although it adjusts up due to inflation over time).
• A few Americans earn an income equal to, or above, the wage base limit for at least 35 years. Those Americans have the highest average wage that it's possible to have, which puts them on track for a huge monthly check.

You can maximize your own benefit, even if you can't hit $4,873 a month

If you're eyeing those big monthly payment amounts and hoping for a huge benefit of your own like that, you should know that the only way to get it is to earn the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $168,600 for 35 full years. That's not easy to do. You can, however, work to try to make your own benefit bigger by trying to increase your income and committing to wait as long as possible to get your first Social Security check.