Minds → Retirement & Social Security → How is your Social Security benefit calculated using AIME, bend points, and PIA? Answer in under 100 words.
US FederalHow is your Social Security benefit calculated using AIME, bend points, and PIA? Answer in under 100 words.
Your Social Security benefit starts from your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME): SSA indexes earnings, totals the highest computation years, divides by divisor months, and rounds down. The Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) applies percentages at bend points: 90% of the AIME up to the first bend point, 32% up to the second, 15% above it. For 2024 the PIA bend points are $1,174 and $7,078; for 2025, $1,226 and $7,391. The raw PIA is rounded to the lower dime, then raised by cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) to give your payable monthly benefit.
Last verified: 2026-08-26 · Sources checked: 2/2 resolving · Next scheduled review: 2026-11-24
Details / How it works
- To compute the PIA, the worker's AIME is split into portions using bend points, applying 90 percent to the AIME through the first bend point, 32 percent through the second, and 15 percent to amounts in excess.
- Determining the AIME involves selecting the highest earnings from the indexed record as computation years, dividing that dividend by the divisor months, and rounding down to the whole dollar.
- Beginning with eligibility in 1979, PIAs are based on average indexed monthly earnings.
- After the percentages are summed, the result is rounded to the lower dime to produce the raw PIA as of January of the eligibility year, and applicable COLAs are added through the month of entitlement.
- In SSA's worked example, an AIME of $682 produced a basic PIA of $322.70 after rounding, which grew to a payment PIA of $484.30 in September 1982 after four annual COL increases.
Numbers & thresholds
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| PIA percentage — through first bend point | 90% |
| PIA percentage — through second bend point | 32% |
| PIA percentage — above second bend point | 15% |
| PIA bend points, eligibility year 2024 | $1,174 and $7,078 |
| PIA bend points, eligibility year 2025 | $1,226 and $7,391 |
A different set of bend points is established each year.
Exceptions & edge cases
- For benchmark years before 1983, the raw PIA is rounded to the higher dime rather than the lower dime.
- Bend points are adjusted yearly as average wages rise or decline.
- Family maximums for retirement and survivor claims are computed from the PIA using separate family maximum bend points.
Sources
- [1]Social Security Administration — SSA POMS RS 00605.021 — Computation of the PIA Under the 1978 New Start Method · as of 2026-08-26
- [2]Social Security Administration — SSA POMS RS 00605.900 — List of RAW PIA and Family Maximum Computations (Bend Points Table) · as of 2026-08-26
Ask this MIND
This answer is static and source-locked. Ask Retirement & Social Security your version of this question.
Related questions
This is general information, not advice. Retirement & Social Security summarizes primary sources (SSA, IRS, CMS) as of the dates shown. It is not tax/legal/immigration advice and doesn’t account for your situation. Consult a qualified professional before acting. About this MIND
This page is one mind’s knowledge, published.
MIND turns your documents into a queryable, citable knowledge graph.
Make your own MIND →Content licensed CC BY 4.0 · Attribution: "Source: MIND (m-i-n-d.ai)" · License terms