Here's what's changing for Wisconsin Social Security recipients in 2025

A few changes are coming to Social Security in 2025 that will affect both beneficiaries of the program and the workers who are paying taxes to support it.

The changes largely only affect workers whose wages are at the highest and lowest ends of the spectrum, meaning most average earners in Wisconsin will not be impacted. However, other changes, such as the cost-of-living adjustment, will affect all of the 1.2 million Wisconsinites who currently receive monthly Social Security benefits.

Here’s what to know about the changes Social Security is undergoing this year:

Social Security wage cap increasing up to $176,000

Most of the revenue for Social Security comes from payroll taxes that everyone pays, and a wage cap is set each year to determine a maximum amount people will pay into Social Security, according to the Social Security Administration. Employers and employees must pay 6.2% of their earnings to Social Security, and the wage cap is increasing this year, so if you earn enough, you may be paying more in 2025.

Last year, the wage cap or the limit on taxable earnings sat at $168,600. In 2025, it has increased to $176,100. This means people earning $176,100 or more will pay a maximum of $10,918 in social security taxes in 2025 — about $465 more than they did last year.

Any income above the taxable maximum is excluded. In other words, workers who make $176,100 per year pay the same amount in Social Security taxes as workers who make $1 million.

In Wisconsin, the median household income income was $75,670 as of 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, so most Wisconsinites will not see a change in their Social Security contributions.

Social Security work credits are changing in 2025

To qualify for Social Security payments upon retirement, you need to accumulate 40 “work credits” throughout your life. Each credit represents a certain amount of earnings, and people can earn a maximum of four credits per year, according to SSA.

In 2025, the monetary definition of a work credit is changing. To earn a work credit in 2024, a person needed to earn $1,730. This year, that number has gone up to $1,810.

In other words, person has to make $7,240 to earn four credits in 2025, whereas in 2024, they only had to make $6,920. This change is expected to primarily affect part-time workers or people who are full-time caregivers and parents.

Full retirement age is increasing in 2025

The full retirement age for Social Security has also increased this year.

Though you can begin filing for monthly Social Security benefits at age 62, you will not receive full benefits if you begin filing at this age. Instead, the agency sets a full retirement age each year, and people increase their monthly benefits by waiting until or after this age to claim Social Security.

For example, people who filed for Social Security at the minimum age of 62 in 2024 received a maximum of $2,710 in monthly benefits, according to the Social Security Administration. Meanwhile, people who retired at full retirement age were eligible for maximum benefits of $3,822. And people who waited past full retirement age and claimed benefits at age 70 received up to $4,873 this year.

According to the SSA, individuals born between May 2, 1958, and February 28, 1959, will reach their full retirement age in 2025.

Here are the full retirement ages for people born in 1955 and later:

• 1955: 66 years and two months

• 1956: 66 years and four months

• 1957: 66 years and six months

• 1958: 66 years and eight months

• 1959: 66 years and 10 months

• 1960 and later: 67 years of age

Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2025

Social Security is also increasing by 2.5% in 2025 to account for cost-of-living increases across the country, the SSA announced in last fall.

This year’s cost-of-living adjustment is the smallest it’s been in three years, down from the 3.2% increase granted in 2024. For the average beneficiary, their monthly payment will rise by $50 this year, going from to $1,907 in January 2024 to $1,957.

When do Social Security and SSI checks go out in 2025?

Social Security checks are distributed on a Wednesday each month depending on the recipient’s birth day, while SSI checks are released on the same day for all beneficiaries. See the 2025 schedule for more details.

More: These Wisconsin cities ranked among the ‘best’ places to retire, according to WalletHub

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Here are changes coming to Social Security in 2025 in Wisconsin