This is the largest Social Security check any senior will receive in 2024.

Seniors could get a $4,873 Social Security check, but no pension payment could be higher in 2024. Here’s why.

Christy Bieber
| The Motley Fool

Did you know that millionaires and billionaires get the same size Social Security check as people whose income is a fraction of what the rich make? There comes a point where Social Security checks simply can’t get any bigger, no matter how much you make.

Here’s when it’ll happen in 2024 — and some details about why it’s happening.

When you’ve used up your Social Security check

In 2024, no matter how much money you earned during your working career and no matter what age you retired, you cannot receive more than $4,873 per month from Social Security.

To understand why, you need to know how the Social Security benefit formula works. Specifically:

Pensioners receive the standard insurance benefit or the Basic Insurance Amount (PIA).
The PIA is calculated based on earnings from the 35 years of a working career in which the highest earnings were recorded, after taking into account wage inflation over the entire working life.
You will receive the maximum possible PIA if you earn the maximum taxable amount for all 35 years counted towards calculating your benefits.
If you claim benefits at age 70, you can increase your maximum PIA amount by accumulating deferred pension points.

The key here is that you need to maximize your taxable earnings to get the highest benefit. Not all earnings are taxable. The fact that not every dollar is subject to the Social Security tax explains why Social Security checks can’t be larger than $4,873 in 2024.

Most people pay Social Security on all of their income, so all of their income counts when their basic insurance amount is calculated. Their benefits are about 40% of their earnings. However, Social Security has something called an earnings base limit. This limits, or caps, the earnings that are taxed each year—and, by extension, limits the earnings that are used to calculate benefits and limits the benefits available to you.

In 2024, anyone who earned the maximum taxable income for 35 years and waited until age 70 to claim benefits will receive a benefit of $4,873. Anyone who did not will receive less. No one can receive more.

The Path to the Biggest Social Security Check Possible

To get the biggest benefit, you must have earned the equivalent of $168,600 after adjusting for inflation for at least 35 years. That amount is the base salary limit for 2024, but it changes over time to account for wage growth. It will likely be higher next year. Last year, it was $160,200.

You can work longer if you want and earn more if you want, but you still can’t make your checks bigger. On the other hand, if you don’t reach the maximum taxable earnings in even one of the 35 years counted in your benefit formula, you can’t get the largest check available. The same is true if you claim benefits even a month before you turn 70, because you’ve lost the chance to boost your benefit with delayed retirement credits.

Very few retirees will receive $4,873 per month because these tasks are difficult to accomplish. You can find estimated benefit amounts on mySocialSecurity.gov, and you should do so to get a clear picture of what your benefits will do for you before you apply for them. This helps you decide how much extra income you need, because there’s a good chance your Social Security check will be much smaller and not enough to fund a comfortable life in your later years.

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