Social Security wage base headroom, 2025
This works out one number from the Social Security Wage Base figures published for 2025. Every amount it uses is below, with the document it was read from. What you enter is your own: this site has no way to check it, and the answer it produces is not a published figure.
Effective 2025-01-01Source: Publication 15 (2025), (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide (IRS)Verified 2026-08-29
How it is worked out
The published amount less the amount you enter, rounded to the nearest cent. Where what you enter is the larger of the two, the answer is nothing rather than a negative amount.
It uses Wage base limit, $176,100, the only one this year publishes.
Figures in this colour are computed from the amounts above. They are not published figures and no document states them.
Work it out
The live calculator needs JavaScript. The table below covers common amounts and is computed the same way.
Worked out for common amounts
| Wages paid so far this year | Result |
|---|---|
| 0 | $176,100 |
| 50,000 | $126,100 |
| 100,000 | $76,100 |
| 180,000 | $0 |
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Publication 15 (2025), (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide (IRS)
- Wage base limit
For 2025, the social security tax rate is 6.2% (amount withheld) each for the employer and employee (12.4% to- tal). The social security wage base limit is $176,100.
Every 2025 Social Security Wage Base figure · Social Security Wage Base in every year · Every calculator on this site