Social Security bend points in 2026, and which year applies to you
Two numbers decide how much of your average pay the PIA formula gives back. They change every year, but yours are frozen the year you turn 62.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
The 2026 bend points are $1,286 and $7,749. They apply to workers who turn 62 in 2026, become disabled in 2026 or die before 62 in 2026: the primary insurance amount is 90% of the first $1,286 of average indexed monthly earnings, plus 32% of the AIME between $1,286 and $7,749, plus 15% of the AIME above $7,749, rounded down to the dime. The SSA obtains them by multiplying the 1979 amounts, $180 and $1,085, by the ratio of the 2024 national average wage index (69,846.57) to the 1977 index (9,779.44), as published in the Federal Register on November 3, 2025. Someone who turned 62 in 2025 keeps the 2025 points, $1,226 and $7,391, for life; only cost-of-living adjustments move their PIA afterwards.
Run an AIME through the bend points
PIA before any COLA
$2,609.80
| 90% of the first $1,286 | $1,157.40 |
| 32% from $1,286 to $7,749 | $1,452.48 |
| 15% above $7,749 | $0.00 |
| PIA as a share of AIME | 44.8% |
How the 2026 bend points were set
The Social Security Act fixes the 1979 formula at $180 and $1,085 and tells the SSA to move both amounts each year with average wages. For 2026 the multiplier is the 2024 national average wage index divided by the 1977 index, 7.1422. Applied to $180 it gives $1,285.59 and to $1,085 it gives $7,749.27, which round to $1,286 and $7,749. The SSA notice of November 3, 2025 shows the arithmetic, and the actuaries' table lists every year back to 1979.
Because the multiplier is a wage index, bend points rise faster in years of strong pay growth. Between 2022 and 2023 the first bend point jumped from $1,024 to $1,115, reflecting the wage surge of 2021; between 2025 and 2026 it moved from $1,226 to $1,286.
Your bend points are those of the year you turn 62
The formula year is the year of first eligibility: 62 for retirement, earlier if you become disabled or die. The regulation (20 CFR 404.212) is explicit that the formula of that year is used even if you only start benefits at 70. Starting later raises your check through delayed credits and COLAs, never through newer bend points. The table shows how the same AIME converts into a PIA under each formula year, before any COLA.
| Turns 62 in | First bend point | Second bend point | PIA for $4,000 AIME | PIA for $9,000 AIME |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $856 | $5,157 | $1,776.40 | $2,723.10 |
| 2018 | $895 | $5,397 | $1,799.10 | $2,786.50 |
| 2020 | $960 | $5,785 | $1,836.80 | $2,890.20 |
| 2021 | $996 | $6,002 | $1,857.60 | $2,948.00 |
| 2022 | $1,024 | $6,172 | $1,873.90 | $2,993.10 |
| 2023 | $1,115 | $6,721 | $1,926.70 | $3,139.20 |
| 2024 | $1,174 | $7,078 | $1,960.90 | $3,234.10 |
| 2025 | $1,226 | $7,391 | $1,991.00 | $3,317.50 |
| 2026 | $1,286 | $7,749 | $2,025.80 | $3,413.20 |
A worker with $4,000 of AIME is in the 32% bracket under every formula above, while $9,000 reaches the 15% bracket. The 2026 version is not automatically more generous: what matters is the wage index used both to raise the bend points and to index your own earnings, which move together.
Three brackets, three replacement rates
The 90% bracket
The first $1,286 of AIME is replaced at 90%, so an AIME exactly at the first bend point gives a PIA of $1,157.40. That level corresponds roughly to a career of full-time work at a low wage, or a shorter career at a middle wage. For people in this bracket, every additional year of earnings that replaces a zero is worth a lot.
The 32% bracket
Between the two points the rate falls to 32%. Most career workers have an AIME here: the SSA's own case A for 2026, a worker born in 1964 with steady middle earnings, has an AIME of $5,825 and a PIA of $2,609.80. At the second bend point the PIA reaches $3,225.50.
The 15% bracket
Above $7,749 only 15 cents of each extra dollar of AIME reach the PIA. Combined with the taxable maximum, which stops counting pay above $184,500 in 2026, this is why the largest PIA for someone turning 62 in 2026 is $4,216.90 even with maximum earnings every year since 22.
Reading the formula backwards
If you know your PIA from your SSA statement, the bend points let you find your AIME. With a 2026 formula, a PIA under $1,157.40 means an AIME under $1,286: divide the PIA by 0.9. Between $1,157.40 and $3,225.50, subtract $1,157.40, divide by 0.32 and add $1,286. This tells you which bracket an extra year of work would feed, and therefore whether working longer is worth much. The AIME page explains how the average itself is built, and the wage index page shows the factor applied to each year.
Three mistakes people make with bend points
The first is applying this year's points to a benefit already being paid. A retiree who started in 2022 sometimes reads that the 2026 points are higher and expects a raise; the 2022 formula stays, and only the COLAs move the check. The second is applying bend points to annual pay. They are monthly amounts, so the first one corresponds to about $15,432 of average indexed pay over a year, not $1,286. The third is reading the 90% rate as a replacement rate for the whole career: it applies only to the first slice of the average, and a worker whose AIME sits in the 15% bracket gets back far less than half of past pay overall.
A fourth confusion concerns disability. A worker who becomes disabled at 50 in 2026 gets the 2026 formula too, because eligibility is the year of disability onset, not the year of the 62nd birthday. When that person reaches full retirement age, the disability benefit converts to a retirement benefit of the same amount, and the formula year does not change.
Bend points and the family maximum
A second formula, with its own three bend points ($1,643, $2,371 and $3,093 for 2026), caps the total that can be paid on one worker's record to a spouse and children. It applies to the PIA rather than the AIME. Divorced spouses are paid outside that cap. The family maximum page runs the numbers.