2027 Social Security wage base $192,300, and what it changes on January 1

The number for 2027

The SSA contribution and benefit base page lists $192,300 for 2027 and $184,500 for 2026. SSA calls it the contribution and benefit base. Payroll people call it the wage base, the taxable maximum, or the Social Security cap. They are the same number.

The same SSA page says the Social Security tax rate for wages paid in 2027 is set by law at 6.2 percent for employees and 6.2 percent for employers. The rate did not change. Only the cap moved, by $7,800.

This matters to a small employer in two places. You withhold 6.2 percent from the worker. You also pay a matching 6.2 percent yourself. Both stop at the same cap for each worker. Employer payroll taxes percentage shows how the matching share fits with Medicare and unemployment tax.

2026 and 2027 side by side

You can redo the math. $192,300 times 0.062 is $11,922.60. That is the most Social Security tax you take from one worker’s 2027 pay. You owe the same amount again as the employer.

Who it touches

Most small employers never hit the cap. A worker has to earn more than $192,300 from you in 2027 for it to matter. If nobody on your payroll earns that much, the 6.2 percent applies to every dollar, all year, and the new number changes nothing on any paycheck.

It does matter for:

• An owner who pays themselves a salary through payroll above the cap.
• A key hire, a manager, or a salesperson with a large year-end commission.
• A worker who gets a big bonus late in the year that pushes year-to-date pay over the line.

For those people, the last paychecks of the year can be larger than the first ones. The Social Security line drops to zero once year-to-date wages pass the cap. Then it starts again on the first check of the next calendar year.

Medicare keeps going

The IRS Topic 751 page sets Medicare at 1.45 percent for the employee and 1.45 percent for the employer. It says there is no wage base limit for Medicare tax. So Medicare stays on every dollar, even after Social Security stops.

The same IRS page adds the Additional Medicare Tax. You withhold an extra 0.9 percent from a worker’s wages above $200,000 in a calendar year. You do this no matter how the worker files their personal return. There is no employer match on that 0.9 percent. What is withholding tax covers the rest of what comes off the check.

Put the two together for a worker who earns $250,000 from you in 2027:

• Social Security: 6.2 percent of the first $192,300 only.
• Medicare: 1.45 percent of all $250,000.
• Additional Medicare: 0.9 percent of the $50,000 above $200,000, from the worker only.

These are example figures you can redo with your own payroll.

A worker with two employers

Each employer applies the cap on its own. You do not add pay the worker earned somewhere else. A person with two jobs can end up with more than $11,922.60 withheld across both. The IRS Topic 608 page says that worker may claim the extra as a credit on their own income tax return. That is the worker’s claim, made on the personal return. You keep withholding on your own wages up to the cap.

The same page covers a different case: one employer took too much by mistake. There, the employer should fix the overcollection. If it does not, the worker can file Form 843 with the Forms W-2.

What to check in your payroll setup

Payroll software updates the cap itself on most plans. You still own the result. Before the first 2027 payday, check these:

1. The software shows $192,300 as the 2027 Social Security wage base. Run a preview for your highest-paid worker.
2. Year-to-date Social Security wages reset to zero on the first 2027 check. A check dated in 2027 is a 2027 wage, per the SSA page’s “wages paid in 2027” wording.
3. If you run payroll by hand or in a spreadsheet, change the cap in your formula. A stale $184,500 stops the tax $7,800 too early for a high earner.
4. On your last 2026 payday, any worker over $184,500 should show no Social Security tax on the part above the cap.

Mistakes here show up in January. Form W-2 box 3, Social Security wages, should not be above the cap for the year. How to file W-2 forms covers the boxes and the February 1, 2027 due date. Form 941, line 5a, reports the same wages each quarter. Form 941 covers that return.

State programs that borrow the number

Some state paid leave programs cap their contribution at the Social Security figure. Paid Leave Oregon’s employer page says the 2026 contribution applies up to “the social security wage index of $184,500 per employee, per year.” It did not post a 2027 cap when we checked. Wait for the state’s own notice before you change a state cap. The Oregon page has the rest of the Combined Payroll Tax setup.

State unemployment wage bases are a separate number. Each state sets its own. A few states tie theirs to a formula, most use a fixed figure. What is SUTA? shows how far apart they are.

If you also have self-employment income

The SSA page says self-employed people pay a higher Medicare rate of 2.90 percent, which is both halves together. The same wage base caps the Social Security part of self-employment tax. If you pay yourself wages from your company and also have side income from a separate business, ask your tax preparer how the cap applies across both.

Next step

Check the cap in your system now, then look at the rest of what changes at year end. The methodology page grades how much of the state side of payroll software takes off your desk. Software handles the cap on its own. It does not file your state returns unless the plan says so. Gusto is one plain link. Patriot is the other service on this site.