About $1.35 trillion is paid into Social Security each year, according to the 2024 Trustees Report covering calendar year 2023.1Social Security Administration. 2024 OASDI Trustees Report – Overview Roughly 183 million workers contributed payroll taxes that year, and payroll taxes alone accounted for about $1.23 trillion of the total. The rest came from interest on trust fund reserves and from income taxes collected on Social Security benefits.
Where the $1.35 Trillion Comes From
The combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds took in $1,351 billion in 2023. That figure breaks down into three streams:
- Payroll taxes from employees, employers, and the self-employed: about $1.23 trillion.2Social Security Administration. Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs – 2024 Trustees Report
- Interest on the Treasury securities held by the trust funds: roughly $67 billion.1Social Security Administration. 2024 OASDI Trustees Report – Overview
- Federal income tax collected on Social Security benefits paid to higher-income retirees: about $50.7 billion.2Social Security Administration. Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs – 2024 Trustees Report
Payroll taxes do almost all of the work. The other two streams matter to the balance sheet, but the money flowing in from paychecks is what keeps the program running.
What You Personally Pay in 2026
If you work for an employer, your share of Social Security tax is 6.2 percent of your covered wages, withheld from every paycheck.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 3101 – Rate of Tax Your employer pays a separate 6.2 percent on the same wages, bringing the combined rate to 12.4 percent.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 3111 – Rate of Tax The employer’s half does not appear on your pay stub. It comes out of the company’s pocket.
Not every dollar you earn counts. Federal law sets a yearly ceiling, called the contribution and benefit base, on the wages subject to Social Security tax.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 430 – Adjustment of Contribution and Benefit Base For 2026, that ceiling is $184,500.6Social Security Administration. 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Fact Sheet Once your year-to-date wages cross that line, neither you nor your employer owes another cent in Social Security tax for the rest of the calendar year.
The cap has climbed steadily as wages have risen. It was $168,600 in 2024 and $176,100 in 2025 before reaching $184,500 in 2026. The Social Security Administration adjusts it each year based on changes in the national average wage index.
The Personal Maximum
Because the cap limits how much wage income is taxable, there is also a fixed maximum any single employee can pay in a year. In 2026, that maximum is $11,439, which is 6.2 percent of $184,500. Add the employer’s matching contribution and the most that flows into Social Security on behalf of any one worker in 2026 is $22,878.
If you hold more than one job and your combined wages push you above $184,500, you may have too much Social Security tax withheld across employers. Individual employers don’t coordinate, so each one keeps withholding up to the cap on its own payroll. You can claim the excess as a credit on your federal income tax return.
What Self-Employed Workers Pay
Running your own business means paying both halves yourself. Under the Self-Employment Contributions Act, the Social Security rate for self-employed workers is 12.4 percent of net self-employment earnings, up to the same $184,500 cap that applies to traditional wages in 2026.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC Ch. 2 – Tax on Self-Employment Income
Two adjustments soften what would otherwise be a heavier burden than employees carry. You only owe self-employment tax on 92.35 percent of your net earnings, not the full amount. This mirrors the fact that traditional employees are not taxed on the employer’s share.8Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 554, Self-Employment Tax You can also deduct half of your total self-employment tax from your adjusted gross income when calculating income tax, whether or not you itemize.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 164 – Taxes
Self-employment tax is reported on Schedule SE, filed with your Form 1040.8Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 554, Self-Employment Tax Nothing is withheld during the year, so the IRS expects estimated quarterly payments on Form 1040-ES.10Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Tax
Social Security vs. Medicare on Your Pay Stub
Your pay stub probably lumps Social Security and Medicare together under “FICA,” but they are two separate taxes with different rules. Only the Social Security portion counts toward the figures above. Medicare is taxed at 1.45 percent of all wages with no earnings cap, matched by your employer, and high earners pay an additional 0.9 percent Medicare surtax on wages above $200,000.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 751, Social Security and Medicare Withholding Rates That Medicare money funds a separate hospital insurance program and does not flow into the Social Security trust funds.
So when the question is how much you pay into Social Security specifically, the answer is 6.2 percent of covered wages as an employee, or 12.4 percent of net earnings as a self-employed worker, up to the $184,500 cap.
How the Payroll Tax Splits Between Retirement and Disability
The 6.2 percent each side pays is not one undivided pool. Of every 6.2 points, 5.3 percentage points are allocated to the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, which pays monthly checks to retirees and surviving family members of deceased workers. The remaining 0.9 percentage points go to the Disability Insurance trust fund, which supports workers who can no longer earn a living due to a qualifying disability.
Taxes on Benefits as a Revenue Stream
The $50.7 billion the trust funds received from taxing benefits in 2023 comes from retirees themselves. If your “combined income”—adjusted gross income, plus any tax-exempt interest, plus half of your Social Security benefits—exceeds $25,000 as an individual filer or $32,000 on a joint return, up to 50 percent of your benefits become taxable. Above $34,000 for individuals or $44,000 for joint filers, up to 85 percent of benefits can be taxed.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 86 – Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement Benefits
Those thresholds have not been adjusted for inflation since they were set in 1983 and 1993, so more beneficiaries cross them every year as wages and retirement balances grow. Revenue from the portion taxed up to 50 percent goes back to the Social Security trust funds. The revenue tied to the 50-to-85-percent range is directed to the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund instead.2Social Security Administration. Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs – 2024 Trustees Report