Social Security earnings limit - does pension count toward the cap at 65?

Good news - pension income does NOT count toward the Social Security earnings limit! Only wages from actual work or net earnings from self-employment count toward the limit. Your pension is considered unearned income, so it doesn't matter how much your pension pays. With that said, since you're working part-time and making $16,000/year while claiming before your Full Retirement Age, you do need to be concerned about the earnings limit. For 2025, you can earn up to $22,680 without penalty if you're under FRA for the full year. Since you're making less than that, you should be fine!

Just be careful about TAX though!!!! Even though pension doesn't count toward earnings limit, it DOES count when calculating if your SS benefits are TAXABLE! Up to 85% of your benefits can be taxed if your combined income is too high. The SSA and IRS are DIFFERENT with their rules and it's SO CONFUSING!!!!

I just wanted to add a bit more detail since there's often confusion about this. The earnings test only applies to earned income (wages, self-employment), not unearned income like pensions, investments, annuities, interest, or rental income. For 2025, the limits are: - $22,680/year if you're under FRA for the entire year - $60,120/year in the months before reaching FRA (if you reach FRA during 2025) - No limit once you reach your FRA If you exceed the limit, SSA withholds $1 for every $2 you earn over the limit if you're under FRA for the entire year, or $1 for every $3 in the year you reach FRA. But good news - you're under the limit with your $16,000 part-time job.

My situation was similar. Started SS at 64, had a teacher's pension, and worked 20 hrs/week at Lowe's. The pension didn't affect my earnings cap at all! But getting through to SSA to confirm this took FOREVER. I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to reach an agent without waiting on hold for hours. They have a good video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. Saved me so much frustration and I got official confirmation that my pension wouldn't count against the limit.

i thought if u work for the government and get a pension u can't get full ss benefits anyway because of windfall something??? my brother worked for county for 20 years and his ss was reduced

One thing nobody mentioned yet - the earnings limit is PRORATED in the first year! Since you're starting SS in June, you'll only have 7 months of benefits in 2025. So your earnings limit for 2025 would actually be 7/12 of $22,680, which is about $13,230. If you earn more than that from your part-time job from June-December, you could still have some reduction. Just wanted to point this out since timing matters! If you're going to earn $16,000 for the full year, that means about $9,333 during June-December, which would still be under your prorated limit.

WATCH OUT for the 20% TAX withheld from your SS when you first start!!! I was SHOCKED when I got my first payment and it was WAY LOWER than expected!!! You have to specifically tell SSA you don't want taxes withheld when you apply!!! Call them ASAP to change this if you haven't applied yet!!