Quarter of Coverage — The Earnings a Credit Costs, by Year
Earnings for one credit, 2026
$1,890
Four credits is the annual maximum, so $7,560 of covered earnings buys a full year regardless of when it is earned.
Forty credits — ten years of covered work — qualifies a worker for a retirement benefit. You can earn at most four credits a year, and the amount is indexed to the average wage index each year. The derivation is arithmetic and reproducible.
How the 2026 figure is derived
The statutory formula takes the 1978 base amount of $250, multiplies by the ratio of the average wage index two years back to the 1976 index, and rounds to the nearest $10. The result cannot fall: if the computation gives less than the prior year, the prior year stands.
| Year | One credit | Four credits |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $1,890 | $7,560 |
| 2025 | $1,810 | $7,240 |
| 2024 | $1,730 | $6,920 |
| 2023 | $1,640 | $6,560 |
| 2022 | $1,510 | $6,040 |
| 2021 | $1,470 | $5,880 |
| 2020 | $1,410 | $5,640 |
| 2019 | $1,360 | $5,440 |
| 2018 | $1,320 | $5,280 |
| 2017 | $1,300 | $5,200 |
| 2016 | $1,260 | $5,040 |
| 2015 | $1,220 | $4,880 |
| 2014 | $1,200 | $4,800 |
| 2013 | $1,160 | $4,640 |
| 2012 | $1,130 | $4,520 |
| 2011 | $1,120 | $4,480 |
| 2010 | $1,120 | $4,480 |
| 2009 | $1,090 | $4,360 |
| 2008 | $1,050 | $4,200 |
| 2007 | $1,000 | $4,000 |
| 2006 | $970 | $3,880 |
| 2005 | $920 | $3,680 |
| 2004 | $900 | $3,600 |
| 2003 | $890 | $3,560 |
| 2002 | $870 | $3,480 |
| 2001 | $830 | $3,320 |
| 2000 | $780 | $3,120 |
| 1999 | $740 | $2,960 |
| 1998 | $700 | $2,800 |
| 1997 | $670 | $2,680 |
| 1996 | $640 | $2,560 |
| 1995 | $630 | $2,520 |
| 1994 | $620 | $2,480 |
| 1993 | $590 | $2,360 |
| 1992 | $570 | $2,280 |
| 1991 | $540 | $2,160 |
| 1990 | $520 | $2,080 |
| 1989 | $500 | $2,000 |
| 1988 | $470 | $1,880 |
| 1987 | $460 | $1,840 |
| 1986 | $440 | $1,760 |
| 1985 | $410 | $1,640 |
| 1984 | $390 | $1,560 |
| 1983 | $370 | $1,480 |
| 1982 | $340 | $1,360 |
| 1981 | $310 | $1,240 |
| 1980 | $290 | $1,160 |
| 1979 | $260 | $1,040 |
| 1978 | $250 | $1,000 |
The other rate series
- Social Security Wage Base
The maximum earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax, and the employee contribution it implies.
- PIA Bend Points
The two dollar hinges in the benefit formula, fixed for life at the year you turn 62.
- Family Maximum Bend Points
The three hinges that cap the total payable on one earnings record.
- Retirement Earnings Test
How much you can earn before benefits are withheld, at both the lower and the FRA-year threshold.
- Substantial Gainful Activity
The monthly earnings level that defines disability work activity, non-blind and blind.
- Trial Work Period
The monthly earnings that make a month count against the nine-month trial work period.
- SSI Federal Payment Rate
The federal SSI standard for an individual and a couple, and the unrounded annual amount each derives from.
- Maximum Social Security Benefit
The highest benefit a worker retiring at full retirement age can receive, and what the COLA does to it.
- Average Social Security Benefit
What SSA publishes as the average payment for each beneficiary category, and the distribution behind it.
- National Average Wage Index
The wage series that indexes the wage base, the bend points and the cost of a credit.
- SSI Student Earned Income Exclusion
How much a student under 22 can earn before SSI counts it, monthly and annually.
By programme
- Retirementretired workers
- DisabilitySSDI
- SSIthe federal rate
- Survivorswidows and widowers
- Spousalon a worker record
- Childrenand the family maximum
Sources and freshness
- SSA OACT — Quarter of coverage — verified 10 August 2026
- SSA Office of the Chief Actuary — Cost-of-Living Adjustments — verified 10 August 2026
Series keyed by: Calendar year.
Figures effective 2026. Page figures last verified against the sources above on 10 August 2026. Corrections: the correction log · support@inventum.com.au