Some Retirees Get $5,108 in Social Security. Here’s How to Be One of Them | The Motley Fool

Imagine receiving $61,296 in annual income from the Social Security Administration. While that may sound like a pipe dream if you collect the average monthly benefit of $1,976, the reality is that some retirees actually do get $5,108 per month in Social Security benefits in 2025. This is the highest monthly check sent out to any senior collecting benefits this year.

So why does this group of retirees get to collect such a huge sum of money every month from the government? Here’s exactly what you would need to do to get a $5,108 monthly payment from Social Security in 2025.

1. Earn a substantial income

Social Security benefits are based on a percentage of average income over 35 years, so if you want to get a $5,108 check, you have to earn a lot of money. Specifically, you will have to earn the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $176,100 for a minimum of 35 years of your working life.

You’ll need to earn the inflation-adjusted equivalent of that amount because that amount is the wage base limit in 2025. Each year, the Social Security Administration establishes a maximum income that is subject to Social Security tax. It’s called the wage base limit. You pay your Social Security tax on all money you earn up to the wage base limit, and you get credit for all the money you earn up to the wage base limit in the Social Security benefits formula.

The wage base limit exists to cap the income that counts toward calculating benefits in order to stop some high earners from getting tens of thousands of dollars in Social Security each month.

The maximum benefit exists because of the wage base limit, since no worker — regardless of how much they earn — can have a higher average wage than the one available to those who earn the wage base limit (or more) for all 35 years included in the benefits formula. And benefits are based directly on average wages.

Unfortunately, if you work fewer than 35 years, you’ll have at least one year of $0 wages factored into your benefit calculation, so maxing out your annual Social Security income would be off the table. And if even one of your 35 years doesn‘t hit the wage base limit, you also can’t get the maximum $5,108 monthly Social Security benefit.

2. Delay your benefits claim

If you manage to earn the wage base limit, or more, you are still not guaranteed a $5,108 monthly benefit. There’s still one more step: You have to max out your delayed retirement credits, too.

Earning the maximum taxable income will give you the highest standard benefit, or primary insurance amount, which is the basic benefit based on a percentage of your wages. You get your standard benefit if you claim at your full retirement age, but you can get more by earning delayed retirement credits. These are available for each month after FRA that you delay benefits, up until you turn 70.

Delayed retirement credits can raise your benefit amount by 2/3 of 1% per month, or 8% per year for each full year that you delay benefits after FRA. If you want to get the highest monthly benefit, $5,108, you need to earn all of these you can. So you have to wait to claim benefits until age 70.

To sum up, if you want a $5,108 monthly Social Security check, you have to earn an income equal to or above the wage base limit for at least 35 years, then wait until 70 to claim Social Security benefits. Both are hard to do, but the reward is a big one.