2026 FICA Tax Rate and Limit

The official 2026 Social Security and Medicare tax rates, the Social Security wage base, and the Additional Medicare Tax thresholds — with a calculator for your own FICA tax.

For 2026, FICA is 6.2% Social Security tax (employee and employer each; 12.4% total if self-employed) on wages up to the $184,500 wage base, plus 1.45% Medicare tax (2.9% self-employed) with no wage cap. An extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies above $200,000 (single or head of household), $250,000 (married filing jointly) or $125,000 (married filing separately) of wages or self-employment income.

Official  Published by the IRS for tax year 2026 (Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base). These are the figures for income earned in 2026, reported on the 2026 return filed in early 2027. Planning for 2027? See the 2027 figures →

FICA rates and thresholds, 2026 — Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base; Additional Medicare Tax IRC §3101(b)(2) (Additional Medicare Tax, not indexed); self-employment IRC §1402(a)(12) (net earnings from self-employment)
Item2026
Social Security (OASDI) tax rate — employee and employer, each 6.2%
Social Security (OASDI) tax rate — self-employed, both halves 12.4%
Social Security wage base (maximum taxable earnings) $184,500
Maximum employee Social Security tax$184,500 × 6.2% $11,439
Medicare (HI) tax rate — employee and employer, each 1.45%
Medicare (HI) tax rate — self-employed, both halves 2.9%
Additional Medicare Tax rate 0.9%
Additional Medicare Tax threshold — single, head of household $200,000
Additional Medicare Tax threshold — married filing jointly $250,000
Additional Medicare Tax threshold — married filing separately $125,000
Self-employed: share of net profit subject to self-employment taxIRC §1402(a)(12): 100% less half of the 15.3% rate 92.35%

FICA has two parts. Social Security tax stops once your wages for the year pass the $184,500 wage base — the most an employee pays in 2026 is $11,439, or $22,878 if you are self-employed and pay both halves. Medicare tax has no wage cap at all, and the Additional Medicare Tax layers 0.9 points on top once your wages or self-employment income (not your total household income) cross the threshold for your filing status — a threshold that has never been adjusted for inflation since it took effect in 2013 (IRC §3101(b)(2) (Additional Medicare Tax, not indexed)). An employer withholds the Additional Medicare Tax once your wages from that one employer cross $200,000, regardless of filing status; you reconcile the correct amount on Form 8959.

If you are self-employed, the tax is not charged on your whole net profit: it applies to 92.35% of it, your “net earnings from self-employment” (IRC §1402(a)(12) (net earnings from self-employment)), and nothing is due when those net earnings are under $400. Half of the resulting Social Security and Medicare tax (not the Additional Medicare Tax) is then deductible from your income.

Your 2026 FICA tax

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FICA is withheld the same way every paycheck — what varies is how much of your retirement income triggers it at all. QuantCalc runs your whole retirement — withdrawals, taxes, Medicare surcharges — year by year, on the 2026 figures above.

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Common questions

What is the FICA tax rate for 2026?

For 2026, FICA is 6.2% Social Security tax (employee and employer each; 12.4% total if self-employed) on wages up to the $184,500 wage base, plus 1.45% Medicare tax (2.9% self-employed) with no wage cap. An extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies above $200,000 (single or head of household), $250,000 (married filing jointly) or $125,000 (married filing separately) of wages or self-employment income. Sources: Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base, IRC §3101(b)(2) (Additional Medicare Tax, not indexed).

What is the FICA limit (wage base) for 2026?

$184,500 — the Social Security wage base. Social Security tax applies only to wages up to this amount; Medicare tax has no wage cap at all (Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base). See the 2027 estimate and full methodology →

What are the 2027 FICA figures?

See 2027 FICA limit and tax rate: the rates are unchanged by statute, and the wage base is $192,300, announced by SSA.

Sources

Every figure on this page is read at build time from QuantCalc’s tax constants, the same ones the planner runs on, and was checked against the text of the documents above. Every figure with its source: JSON. QuantCalc is calculation software, not tax advice.

Related

2027 Social Security wage base → 2026 401(k) contribution limits →

FICA is withheld the same way every paycheck — what varies is how much of your retirement income triggers it at all — see the whole picture in the free planner →