Average indexed monthly earnings (AIME), built one year at a time
Before any formula, the SSA turns your whole working life into a single monthly number. Here is how that number is made.
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Your average indexed monthly earnings, or AIME, is the sum of your 35 highest years of indexed earnings divided by 420, the number of months in 35 years, rounded down to the whole dollar. Each year counts only up to that year's taxable maximum ($42,000 in 1986, $184,500 in 2026). Years before the one in which you turn 60 are multiplied by the national average wage index of that year of age 60 divided by the index of the year worked; from age 60 on, pay counts at face value. In the SSA's own 2026 example, a worker born in 1964 earned $16,196 in 1986; multiplied by 4.0323, that becomes $65,307 in 2024 wages. After indexing 40 years and dropping the 5 lowest, the 35 best total $2,446,845, which gives an AIME of $5,825 and, through the 2026 bend points, a primary insurance amount of $2,609.80.
Build your AIME from a steady career
AIME (rounded down to $1)
$5,000
| Indexing year (you turn 60) | 2024 |
| Sum of the 35 best indexed years | $2,100,013 |
| Divided by | 420 months |
| PIA from this AIME | $2,345.80 |
Each year capped at its taxable maximum; years from the indexing year on count at face value.
From W-2 to AIME in five moves
- List every year of covered earnings, wages and net self-employment income, as they appear on your SSA earnings record.
- Cap each year at the contribution and benefit base of that year: $42,000 in 1986, $76,200 in 2000, $184,500 in 2026. Pay above it was not taxed for Social Security and does not count.
- Index the years before the year you turn 60. The factor is the average wage index of your age-60 year divided by the index of the year worked. The year you turn 60 and every later year have a factor of exactly 1.
- Keep the 35 highest indexed amounts. If you have fewer than 35 years, the empty slots are zeros.
- Divide the total by 420 and drop the cents. The result is the AIME that the bend points turn into a PIA.
The rule is written in 20 CFR 404.211: the "computation base years" start in 1951, the indexing year is the second year before the year of eligibility, and the average is rounded down to the dollar. Eligibility for retirement is the year you reach 62, so the indexing year is the year you reach 60.
Case A of the SSA, every line
The Office of the Chief Actuary publishes a worked example for 2026: a worker born in 1964 who earned from 1986 through 2025 and starts benefits at 62 in 2026. The indexing year is 2024, so each factor is the 2024 wage index, $69,846.57, divided by the index of the year shown. Our engine recomputes every line below from those two published series and lands on the SSA's figures.
| Year | Nominal earnings | Factor | Indexed | In the 35 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | $16,196 | 4.0323 | $65,307 | dropped |
| 1987 | $17,283 | 3.7905 | $65,512 | dropped |
| 1988 | $18,191 | 3.6126 | $65,717 | dropped |
| 1989 | $18,971 | 3.4750 | $65,925 | dropped |
| 1990 | $19,909 | 3.3216 | $66,130 | dropped |
| 1991 | $20,715 | 3.2023 | $66,335 | yes |
| 1992 | $21,850 | 3.0454 | $66,541 | yes |
| 1993 | $22,107 | 3.0194 | $66,750 | yes |
| 1994 | $22,770 | 2.9405 | $66,955 | yes |
| 1995 | $23,755 | 2.8271 | $67,159 | yes |
| 1996 | $24,994 | 2.6953 | $67,367 | yes |
| 1997 | $26,533 | 2.5467 | $67,572 | yes |
| 1998 | $28,007 | 2.4201 | $67,779 | yes |
| 1999 | $29,657 | 2.2923 | $67,983 | yes |
| 2000 | $31,392 | 2.1722 | $68,190 | yes |
| 2001 | $32,238 | 2.1216 | $68,396 | yes |
| 2002 | $32,660 | 2.1005 | $68,603 | yes |
| 2003 | $33,558 | 2.0504 | $68,807 | yes |
| 2004 | $35,224 | 1.9593 | $69,015 | yes |
| 2005 | $36,621 | 1.8901 | $69,219 | yes |
| 2006 | $38,419 | 1.8071 | $69,427 | yes |
| 2007 | $40,281 | 1.7286 | $69,631 | yes |
| 2008 | $41,330 | 1.6898 | $69,838 | yes |
| 2009 | $40,826 | 1.7156 | $70,043 | yes |
| 2010 | $41,914 | 1.6760 | $70,249 | yes |
| 2011 | $43,354 | 1.6251 | $70,455 | yes |
| 2012 | $44,839 | 1.5759 | $70,662 | yes |
| 2013 | $45,544 | 1.5560 | $70,867 | yes |
| 2014 | $47,298 | 1.5027 | $71,073 | yes |
| 2015 | $49,085 | 1.4522 | $71,279 | yes |
| 2016 | $49,783 | 1.4359 | $71,485 | yes |
| 2017 | $51,651 | 1.3880 | $71,691 | yes |
| 2018 | $53,677 | 1.3394 | $71,898 | yes |
| 2019 | $55,848 | 1.2911 | $72,103 | yes |
| 2020 | $57,590 | 1.2556 | $72,309 | yes |
| 2021 | $62,889 | 1.1531 | $72,515 | yes |
| 2022 | $66,421 | 1.0949 | $72,722 | yes |
| 2023 | $69,560 | 1.0484 | $72,927 | yes |
| 2024 | $73,133 | 1.0000 | $73,133 | yes |
| 2025 | $75,868 | 1.0000 | $75,868 | yes |
Two things stand out. First, indexing almost flattens the career: $16,196 in 1986 and $69,560 in 2023 become $65,307 and $72,927, because this worker's pay rose roughly with national wages. Second, the years dropped are the oldest, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, not because they are old but because their indexed values are the five smallest. The sum of the other 35 is $2,446,844.57 before rounding each line (the SSA's table, rounded line by line, prints $2,446,845); divided by 420 it gives $5,825.82, cut to $5,825.
Look also at 2009. Case A earned less that year than in 2008, yet its indexed value is higher, $70,043 against $69,838. The reason is that the national wage index fell in 2009, so the factor for that year is larger. The wage index page lists the whole series.
Why the clock stops at 60, not 62
The regulation has the SSA publish each year's average wage in the Federal Register on or before November 1 of the following year. The 2024 index, $69,846.57, appeared in the notice of November 3, 2025, just in time for people turning 62 in 2026. Indexing to the year of age 60 lets the SSA compute a PIA for anyone reaching 62 with an index that already exists. Earnings at 60, 61 and later simply enter at face value: a raise at 61 counts dollar for dollar, without any multiplier.
The year of age 60 also fixes your bend points two years later. Someone born in 1964 has 2024 as indexing year and 2026 as formula year, with bend points of $1,286 and $7,749. Both move with the same wage index, so the AIME and the brackets stay in step.
The cap of each year, seen on the maximum earner
The SSA's case B, born in 1959, earned at least the taxable maximum every year from 1986 to 2025. The record therefore shows the base itself: $42,000 in 1986, $106,800 in 2010, $176,100 in 2025. This worker turned 60 in 2019, so indexing stops there, and the AIME is $11,463. Whatever the real salary was, no higher AIME was possible for a career of that length. The taxable maximum page shows how the base is set each year.
If you are under 60 today
Your indexing year has not happened, so no one can know your exact factors. Calculators, including ours and the SSA's quick calculator, use the latest published index, $69,846.57 for 2024, and the 2026 bend points, which gives an estimate in today's dollars. For a worker born in 1970 with a steady $55,000 in today's pay from 22 to 62, that method gives an AIME of $4,583. The real figure will be higher in nominal dollars, but so will the bend points, and the resulting benefit keeps about the same relation to average wages.
What does not enter the AIME
- Pay above the year's taxable maximum.
- Earnings from work not covered by Social Security, such as some state and local government jobs with their own pension.
- Investment income, pensions, rents and interest.
- Years beyond the 35 best: they still earn credits, but they do not raise the average unless they replace a lower year.
To see what your own AIME becomes once it goes through the formula, use the PIA page; to test missing years, the fewer-than-35-years page.