Income year 2024
How much wage income sits above the Social Security tax cap?
A five-year birth-cohort view of survey-estimated 2024 wage and salary income above the $168,600 taxable maximum.
Why not 22.119M? These are weighted CPS estimates, not payroll records. SSA’s 22.119M figure counts workers with self-employment earnings; it is not a count of workers above the taxable maximum. The comparable SSA benchmark is 11.523M workers at the maximum in 2023. Birth year is approximated as 2025 minus age at the March 2025 survey.
Five-year birth cohorts
Wages above the cap
Displayed from estimated birth cohort 2010–2014 backward. Cohort and complete birth-year datasets are available from the Evidence menu.
| Birth cohort | Approx. age range | Above-cap workers | Wage excess | 90% interval | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–2014 | 10–14 | 3,837 | $0.1B | $0.0B–$0.3B | Low |
| 2005–2009 | 15–19 | 18,780 | $5.3B | $0.0B–$12.4B | Low |
| 2000–2004 | 20–24 | 161,329 | $14.6B | $1.3B–$28.5B | Low |
| 1995–1999 | 25–29 | 563,469 | $74.9B | $38.8B–$110.9B | Med |
| 1990–1994 | 30–34 | 1,139,456 | $132.4B | $80.2B–$184.5B | Med |
| 1985–1989 | 35–39 | 1,614,908 | $211.9B | $154.2B–$269.5B | Med |
| 1980–1984 | 40–44 | 1,601,589 | $221.3B | $157.7B–$284.9B | Med |
| 1975–1979 | 45–49 | 1,571,577 | $213.5B | $151.3B–$275.6B | Med |
| 1970–1974 | 50–54 | 1,443,745 | $202.0B | $136.7B–$267.4B | Med |
| 1965–1969 | 55–59 | 1,289,029 | $231.8B | $149.8B–$313.8B | Med |
| 1960–1964 | 60–64 | 969,372 | $152.9B | $91.8B–$214.0B | Med |
| 1955–1959 | 65–69 | 355,637 | $55.8B | $21.9B–$89.7B | Low |
| 1950–1954 | 70–74 | 166,660 | $28.4B | $4.7B–$52.3B | Low |
| 1945–1949 | 75–79 | 77,433 | $7.9B | $1.3B–$15.1B | Low |
| 1940–1944 | 80–84 | 14,324 | $7.3B | $0.0B–$16.0B | Low |