Social Security Taxable Wage Base: Projected 2025 Increase
What’s the maximum you’ll pay per employee in Social Security tax next year? The taxable wage base estimate has been released, providing you with key numbers.
According to the intermediate projection issued in a May 2024 report, the Social Security taxable wage next year will be $174,900.
That’d be a $6,300 increase from the current number of $168,600.
At the 6.2% rate, the maximum Payroll would withhold from each employee’s wages for Social Security tax would reach $10,843.80. Of course, employers would pay that same amount for each employee. Currently, the per-employee max amount is $10,453.20.
When SSA releases the final Social Security taxable wage base number for 2025, likely in October, we’ll let you know.
For employers that want to look further ahead, here are the intermediate projections for the second half of the decade:
- $181,800 in 2026
- $188,100 in 2027
- $195,900 in 2028, and
- $204,000 in 2029.
Where’s Social Security Headed?
Of note, the report provided insight on the solvency of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) trust funds.
The total cost of the Social Security program began to exceed the total income in 2021, and that’s expected to continue in 2024 and all later years, according to intermediate assumptions.
For now, the projected program income and the combined reserves of the OASI and DI trust funds can keep the Social Security program afloat. The ratio of reserves to annual cost is projected to decline, though.
As for the OASI Trust Fund specifically, its reserves will become depleted during 2033, the report states. Then, the combined trust fund reserves will be expended by 2035, unless changes are made.
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