Social Security earnings limit at 62 with pension and part-time job - how much can I make?

Good questions! For 2025, the earnings limit for someone who is under full retirement age for the entire year is $22,320. Only your wages from your part-time job count toward this limit, NOT your pension. So your $1,100/month ($13,200/year) part-time job is under the limit and shouldn't cause any reduction in your SS benefits. However, there are two separate issues you need to consider: 1. The earnings limit only applies to WAGES from a job, not pension income. 2. Since you mentioned a government pension, you might be subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) which is completely different from the earnings limit. WEP can reduce your SS benefit amount if you receive a pension from work where you didn't pay Social Security taxes. This isn't affected by your current earnings - it's a separate calculation.

My brother got hit hard by that WEP thing! He worked for city government for 25 years and then found out his social security from his other jobs got cut by like 40%!! Its totally unfair how they do this to people. You might want to talk to someone at SSA directly before you make any decisions.

Just FYI the earnings limit is different if you reach full retirement age during the year vs. being under FRA the whole year. What year were you born? That determines your FRA.

To give you more precise information about the WEP reduction: The maximum WEP reduction for someone reaching age 62 in 2025 is $578 per month, but the actual reduction depends on how many "substantial earnings" years you have where you paid into Social Security. With 15 years in the private sector, your WEP reduction would likely be less than the maximum. For the earnings test: If you exceed the $22,320 annual limit, Social Security will withhold $1 for every $2 you earn above the limit. Since your part-time job only pays about $13,200 annually, you're well under the threshold. You should also check if you might be subject to the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which is different from WEP and affects spousal/survivor benefits if you're married. I'd recommend creating a my Social Security account online and getting a personalized estimate that accounts for your government pension.

The my Social Security account estimates don't automatically factor in WEP or GPO reductions. You need to contact SSA directly to get an accurate calculation that considers your government pension. I was in a similar situation last year and tried calling SSA for WEEKS without getting through. After getting disconnected multiple times, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an SSA agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU It was worth it because the agent gave me a detailed breakdown of how WEP would affect my specific situation, which was really different from what I expected based on the online estimate. Definitely recommend getting the specific calculation for your situation.

im pretty sure pensions DO count toward the limit!!! my uncle told me his pension and social secuirty combined couldnt go over some amount or they took money away. Its all about total income i think

Does anyone know if the earnings limit goes up each year? I'm turning 62 in 2026 and wondering if I should wait a year if the limit will be higher then.

I'm getting confused again with all this information. Let me see if I understand: 1. My part-time job earnings ($1,100/month) won't affect my SS benefits because they're under the limit 2. My pension doesn't count toward the earnings limit 3. BUT my pension might cause my SS benefit to be reduced because of WEP 4. The online calculator doesn't show this reduction Do I need to visit a Social Security office in person to get the correct information? Or is calling better?

Be prepared for them to give you different answers depending on who you talk to!!! I had to call SSA three times and got three different explanations about my benefits. It's ridiculous how confusing they make everything!

Just to add one more thing - make sure you have your most recent Social Security statement, your pension award letter, and maybe your last few years of W-2s handy when you call. Makes the process go much faster when you have all the documentation ready.

To summarize everything in this thread: 1. Earnings limit for 2025 if under FRA whole year: $22,320 (only wages count, not pension) 2. Your part-time job earnings are about $13,200/year, so you're under the limit 3. You likely face a WEP reduction due to your government pension 4. The WEP reduction depends on your years of "substantial earnings" under Social Security 5. The online calculator doesn't automatically show WEP reductions 6. You should contact SSA directly for an accurate calculation Based on what you've shared, you can definitely continue your part-time job without losing SS benefits to the earnings limit. The WEP reduction will happen regardless of whether you work or not, so that shouldn't affect your decision about the part-time job.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that you might want to consider the timing of when you apply for Social Security. Since you're planning to start collecting at 62, you'll be taking a permanent reduction in your monthly benefit amount (around 25-30% less than your full retirement age benefit). With WEP potentially reducing your benefit even further, it might be worth running the numbers to see if delaying your claim by even a year or two could significantly improve your monthly income, especially since your part-time job and pension are covering your current expenses. Every year you delay past 62 increases your benefit by about 6-8% until you reach full retirement age. Just something to consider as part of your overall planning - sometimes the math works out better to wait even if you're eligible early.

I don't think there are any free online calculators that accurately handle WEP calculations with different claiming ages - it's one of those complex scenarios where the SSA's own systems are really your best bet. However, you can get a good sense of the trade-offs by requesting a detailed benefit estimate from SSA that shows your projected benefits at different claiming ages, then asking them to apply the WEP reduction to each scenario. Another approach is to use the SSA's own retirement estimator and then manually subtract the WEP reduction amount (which they should be able to calculate for you) from each age scenario. Since you mentioned having 15 years of substantial earnings under Social Security, your WEP reduction might be in the $300-400 range rather than the maximum $578, but definitely get the exact number from them. Given that you're financially stable now, running those numbers could be really valuable. Even a year or two of delay could potentially offset a significant portion of the WEP reduction through the delayed retirement credits.